Nearly 2 percent of high school students identify as transgender, and 35 percent of these trans students have attempted suicide in the past year, according to a study released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study validates similar findings from smaller clinical and web-based studies that have found transgender students face higher rates of victimization, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts when compared to their cisgender (nontransgender) peers.

The new CDC study uses data from its biannual Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) report, which asked 131,901 students in 10 states and nine different “large urban school districts” an optional question about their transgender identity.

“This study is the first time this question was asked," Caitlin Clark, a research associate at GLSEN, a national nonprofit that works to ensure schools are safe and affirming for LGBTQ students, told NBC News. To craft the question, the CDC partnered with organizations, including GLSEN, to help to ensure that the agency asked about transgender identity in an accurate and discernible way.

“We’ve worked together to figure out the best way to assess gender identity in a way that youth understand,” Clark said.

National data on transgender youth, like the numbers released Thursday, is what many LGBTQ advocates have been waiting for. Read more via NBC