This Data Flips the Transgender Bullying Narrative on Its Head

A massive study finds that trans-identifying teens, especially those who identify as ‘nonbinary,’ are more likely to bully others than be bullied.

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About the Author

Dr. Colin Wright is an evolutionary biology PhD, Manhattan Institute Fellow, and CEO/Editor-in-Chief of Reality’s Last Stand. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Times, the New York Post, Newsweek, City Journal, Quillette, Queer Majority, and other major news outlets and peer-reviewed journals.

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In recent years, few topics have generated more political, cultural, and medical controversy as transgender identity, especially as it relates to its growing popularity among young people. Much of this discussion has focused on how schools, healthcare providers, and families should respond when children identify as transgender. At the center of these conversations is the issue of bullying. The dominant narrative—repeated in the media, advocacy campaigns, and education policy—portrays transgender-identifying youth as passive victims being ostracized, excluded, and harassed simply for being their “authentic selves.” This framing has driven major policy changes, including rewriting school curricula around “gender identity,” enforcing compelled speech regarding pronouns, and expanding the use of so-called “gender-affirming care,” such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.

This narrative is grounded in a psychological framework known as the minority stress model. According to this framework, the mental health struggles seen in trans-identifying youth aren’t due to underlying psychological issues, but are instead caused by social rejection, stigma, and lack of affirmation. This model has become widely accepted in academic and activist circles. It assumes that trans-identifying youth are mentally healthy by default, and that any emotional distress stems from how society treats or judges them. But the model is unscientific because it is both circular and unfalsifiable. Any signs of distress are taken as proof of victimization, while any suggestion that mental health problems or social difficulties might precede a transgender identity is dismissed as transphobic.

A study from Finland complicates this simplistic narrative. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the paper—titled “Transgender Identity Is Associated With Bullying Involvement Among Finnish Adolescents”—found that adolescents who identify as transgender, especially those who consider themselves “nonbinary,” were more likely than their non-trans-identified peers not only to be bullied, but also to bully others. In fact, the link between transgender identity and perpetrating bullying was even stronger than the link to being bullied.

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Watch or listen to evolutionary biologist Dr. Colin Wright and journalist Brad Polumbo discuss this paper on the Citation Needed podcast.

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This adds a more complex picture to the public conversation. Yes, trans-identifying adolescents may face disproportionate bullying—but they are hardly just passive victims. The nonbinary group, in particular, stood out. Across both younger and older age groups, they reported bullying others more often than they were bullied themselves. This flips the common narrative.

To fully understand the significance of this study, it’s important to look at how the researchers defined their terms and designed the study.