In the US, one in five high school pupils does not identify as heterosexual and many said they faced mental health challenges in the past year, a study has found.

The Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), polled just less than 8,000 pupils between January and June 2021. The study focused on pupils’ experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and took into account respondents’ identities, such as race and sexuality. In the report, about 22.5% of respondents said they were gay, lesbian, bisexual, identified in some other way or were questioning their sexual identity.

The findings are in keeping with a Gallup poll released last month, in which almost 21% of Gen-Z respondents aged 18 and over identified as members of the LGBTQ community, more than any other generation...