New survey data from Ivy League Brown University’s student newspaper shows that the number of students identifying as LGBTQ+ has nearly tripled since 2010, with 38% of students now identifying as non-heterosexual. The increase in identification is thought to be driven by social pressures.

Other sexual orientations have also seen significant increases, with the percentage of students identifying as bisexual increasing by 232% and other sexual orientations within the LGBTQ+ community increasing by 793%.

The idea of LGBT identification as a social contagion is controversial but supported by research that shows identity rising much faster than behavior, indicating that people with occasional rather than sustained feelings of attraction to the opposite sex are increasingly identifying as LGBT.

Peer pressure is acknowledged to play a role in other areas of behavior and lifestyle, such as smoking, alcohol abuse, drug use, and weight loss.

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