For indicators from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), data are broken out by LGBTQ and BIPOC students. The most recent YRBS reports (2021) developed by the Vermont Department of Health from which these data were compiled define these groups as described as follows:

LGBTQ includes students who identified as transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, other sexual orientation, or questioning or unsure if they are transgender.

BIPOC includes students who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, or Hispanic /Latino.

Note that YRBS reports from previous years have used other language to describe these groupings.  The Vermont Department of Health includes this note related to these population groupings in the 2021 YRBS reports: “We acknowledge that this grouping method strengthens statistical comparative power while also diminishing how precisely we can report the results among the distinct, diverse sub-populations within these groupings.”

A special note about 2021 YRBS data: The data from the 2021 YRBS should be interpreted with caution as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s YRBS was done in the fall instead of the usual spring timeline, meaning that students were overall younger when they completed the survey. In addition, students who participated in the 2021 YRBS may have had a different educational and social experience compared to previous participants. Disruptions, including remote learning, lack of social interactions and extracurricular activities, are likely reflected in the survey results.