Report | The Wellbeing of LGBTQ+ Students

_{29 June 2022}

Summary

Many LGBTQ+ students experience increased wellbeing over the course of their degree however also experience a range of inequalities.

The report, based on the analysis of data from the Student Academic Experiences Survey, a survey run by Advance HE and HEPI which is administered to more than 10,000 students each year, looks at how the subjective wellbeing of LGBTQ+ students has changed over time – particularly during the coronavirus pandemic – and how this wellbeing differs between one another and their straight or cis gendered peers.

Some key findings from the report are:

• Average effects of the pandemic on student wellbeing were 50% larger for LGBQA people than for their peers, and this gap has persisted.
• More than half of all trans students now experience high anxiety.
• Asexual people experience systematically the worst wellbeing of any sexual orientation group.
• Gaps in anxiety between LGBQA students and straight students will take more than 20 years to close at pre-pandemic rates.
• Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and Trans Students experience higher wellbeing over the course of their studies, helping to close the gap with others.

Read the report