[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-584694-105":59,"doc-detail-584694-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","lgbtq-students-and-school-sports-participation-research-brief","LGBTQ STUDENTS AND SCHOOL SPORTS PARTICIPATION - Research Brief","","Sports participation supports youth development by improving physical health, social skills, and psychological well-being, and it is associated with stronger school belonging and pro-school behaviors. However, LGBTQ students can face exclusion and unsafe conditions in sports settings, which may intensify mental health challenges. This research brief describes K-12 LGBTQ students’ sports-related experiences, examines factors linked to participation, documents discrimination within sports and school facilities, and analyzes benefits that may vary for transgender and nonbinary students.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lgbtq-students-and-school-sports-participation-research-brief/584694/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/lgbtq-students-and-school-sports-participation-research-brief/584694.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Damian","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What benefits does sports participation have for youth?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Sports participation can improve physical health, social skills, and psychological well-being, and research links it to stronger feelings of school belonging and pro-school behaviors.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why might LGBTQ students avoid participating in school sports?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Some LGBTQ students avoid sports because school and sports-specific spaces can feel unsafe or unwelcoming due to sexual orientation or gender identity.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How do attendance and avoidance patterns differ across LGBTQ gender groups?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The brief reports lower participation rates among LGBTQ students compared with non-LGBTQ peers, and it shows that transgender and nonbinary students are more likely to avoid sports-related spaces than many cisgender LGBQ peers.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584694,1792189685,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},137451208677,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","RESEARCH INSTITUTE  \nLGBTQ STUDENTS  \nAND SCHOOL SPORTS PARTICIPATION  \nRESEARCH BRIEF  \n[glsen.org/Research](glsen.org/Research)  \nSports participation has positive effects on youth development, improving physical health, social skills and psychological well‐being.1 Additionally, research has found that sports participation is related to greater feelings of school belonging and pro‐school behaviors.2 Despite these benefits, some research has found negative effects of sports participation among LGBTQ students, including social exclusion and feeling unsafe, associated with increased mental health challenges.3 Sports environments have been shown to reflect high levels of anti-LGBTQ harassment on playing fields and in locker rooms.4 Previous research from GLSEN and other scholars has found that LGBTQ youth regularly experience hostile school climates, which can inhibit their participation in school activities in general, and sports in particular.5 Enhancing the climate of sports in schools is necessary to allow LGBTQ students full access to school life and to improve the well-being of LGBTQ students who choose to participate in sports. Therefore, we are interested in the conditions that predict sports participation, benefits of sports participation for LGBTQ youth and how those benefits may differ across groups.  \nThe purpose of this Research Brief is to illustrate the sports-related experiences of LGBTQ students in K-12 schools. This brief will 1) examine conditions that may predict sports participation 2) describe LGBTQ students’experiences of discrimination within sports, and 3) examine benefits to sports participation for LGBTQ students. Further, we discuss whether there are differences in both access to and benefits of sports participation for transgender and nonbinary students.  \n LGBTQ Student Participation in School Sports   \nOur previous research has shown that LGBTQ students are half as likely as non-LGBTQ students to participate in both interscholastic (40 . 2% vs. 19. 2%) and intramural sports (35 . 8% vs. 15. 9%).6 Among LGBTQ students, we found that cisgender LGBQ students were more likely to participate in school sports than their transgender and nonbinary peers, and nonbinary students were more likely to participate than transgender students (see Figure 1) .7 Given that school sports teams are most often segregated by a gender binary, it may be that nonbinary students are more likely to participate in sports than their transgender peers because they are not being denied access to the team that aligns with their gender as there is none, and they may be more comfortable playing on the sports team of their sex assigned at birth. Transgender students, however, maybe denied access to the team that does align with their gender, and then must choose whether to play on the team not consistent with their gender identity or not play sports at all.  \nLGBTQ youth may choose not to engage in sports if school environments, particularly sport-specific spaces, are unsafe and unwelcoming spaces due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.  \nFigure 1. Sports Participation by Gender Among LGBTQ Students  \n40%  \n30%  \n20%  \n10%  \n0%  \n36.4%  \n20.6%  \n29.9%  \nCisgender Students  \nTransgender Students  \nNonbinary Students  \n[glsen.org/Research](glsen.org/Research)  \nLGBTQ STUDENTS AND SCHOOL SPORTS PARTICIPATION | 2  \nUnsafe Athletic Spaces  \nSchool spaces associated with sports, such as locker rooms, P. E./gym classes, and athletic fields/facilities, are some of the spaces most commonly avoided by LGBTQ students because of feeling unsafe. As shown in our 2019 National School Climate Survey:  \n• 43.7% of LGBTQ students avoided locker rooms  \n• 40.2% avoided physical education or gym class  \n• 25.1% avoided school athletic fields or facilities  \nTransgender and nonbinary students were more likely to avoid sports-related spaces at school than most of their LGBQ cisgender peers.8 As shown in Figure 2,  \ntransgender students were mo","cbCaigup4wD6wNnc","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigup4wD6wNnc","pdf",1235430,14,"English","# LGBTQ Student Participation in School Sports\n## Unsafe Athletic Spaces\n## Discrimination Related to Sports & School Facilities","[{\"question\":\"What benefits does sports participation have for youth?\",\"answer\":\"Sports participation can improve physical health, social skills, and psychological well-being, and research links it to stronger feelings of school belonging and pro-school behaviors.\"},{\"question\":\"Why might LGBTQ students avoid participating in school sports?\",\"answer\":\"Some LGBTQ students avoid sports because school and sports-specific spaces can feel unsafe or unwelcoming due to sexual orientation or gender identity.\"},{\"question\":\"How do attendance and avoidance patterns differ across LGBTQ gender groups?\",\"answer\":\"The brief reports lower participation rates among LGBTQ students compared with non-LGBTQ peers, and it shows that transgender and nonbinary students are more likely to avoid sports-related spaces than many cisgender LGBQ peers.\"}]","LGBTQ STUDENTS AND SCHOOL SPORTS PARTICIPATION - Research Brief | PDF",1792051852,35]