Author Warns Against Promoting Excessive Aggressiveness in Female Students

In a June 24 article on The Huffington Post, author Rachel Simmons argues that boarding schools that teach girls to stand up for themselves need to be careful that their confidence-boosting efforts don't cross the line into encouraging aggression or unacceptable levels of competitiveness:

Teaching girls to be tough can be accomplished in more humane ways, and certainly not at the expense of hurting or beating someone else. Resilience is not about being better than or stronger than; it is something found within the self in response to the daily stresses of life -- not stresses that are artificially designed.

Sports fields and classrooms are training grounds for how girls will take on the world as young women. Aggression in the workplace and a willingness to win at any cost become the very behaviors that limit female potential.

Simmons, who is the author of the New York Times bestseller Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, is an expert on empowering girls and combating bullying.

Young Adult Novel Features Positive Message for Weight-Conscious Girls

The protagonist of the new young adult novel "Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies," is an overweight 13-year-old girls who is desperate to lose weight in order to avoid winning the Miss HuskyPeach modeling competition for plus-sized girls.

The novel's author, Erin Dionne, told Cate Lecuyer of The Salem News that although she didn't set out to write a book about weight and body issues, she made sure the character she created has a positive message for young readers:

Girls today are so bombarded by the media and images of beauty. You never see anything less than perfection. It was very important to me that Celeste didn't lose a lot of weight. She's not skinny at the end. In no way did I want to send the message that thin equals happier. ...

Instead of eating her Oreos, she has an apple for a snack. At one point, she does try a diet drink and throws up all over the gym teacher's shoes and says never again will I take the easy way out.

In her June 23 article, Lecuyer reported that Dionne's novel has been chosen to be a featured title by Scholastic Book Fairs, and has also been nominated for the American Library Association's 2010 Popular Paperbacks List.

Psychiatrist Advises Parents to Help Prepare Teens for Challenges of Dating

Among the many nerve-wracking experiences of parenting a child is the moment when you realize that your teenager is (or soon will be) dating. However, according to an article by psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz on the MSNBC website, teen dating doesn't have to be a disastrous experience for young people or their parents.

One of the most important factors, Dr. Saltz wrote, is that parents take an active role in guiding and advising their teenage children:

Teen dating can be a wonderful and fun time where self confidence is built up, and dating techniques are learned. Teens also learn how to be both assertive and compromising, how to be giving to another and how to expect the same in return. All of this is a sort of practice session in order to find Mr. or Miss Right.

Unfortunately, too often teens start dating with no preparatory talks from their parents and then they can get into trouble. According to Planned Parenthood, about 10 percent of teenage girls in the U.S. become pregnant before age 20. And the U.S. Attorney General reports that 38 percent of date rape victims are girls between the age of 14 and 17.

"Talk to your children," Dr. Saltz advises parents of teens who are of dating age. "Teach them how to date, how to have respect for one another and how to protect themselves from emotional and physical hurt."

Several studies have shown that teens who have positive relationships with their parents, and who have developed healthy levels of self-esteem, are better prepared to deal with the many challenges of the teen years and beyond.

If you have been less-than-successful in communicating with your teen, don't give up. It's not too late to re-establish healthy parent-teen communication, and help your child pursue the brightest possible future.

Close Monitoring may Help Troubled Girls Avoid Pregnancy

A team a researchers who were evaluating foster care programs for troubled teen girls has discovered that specialized foster care programs that closely monitor teen girls' activities appear to help keep these girl from getting pregnant. A June 17 Health Day News article provided the following details:

Researchers directed 166 girls aged 13 to 17 who were ordered by the courts to receive treatment for criminal behavior to either specialized foster care or a group-care facility.

The specialized programs, called Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), were developed in the 1980s to provide severely delinquent youths one-on-one care and supervision from foster parents trained in behavior management.

Techniques include awarding points for positive behavior (completing chores, attending school regularly) and losing points for negative behaviors, such as not completing homework, according to the non-profit Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy.

After two years in the specialized program, just 26 percent of the girls had unwanted pregnancies, compared with 47 percent of teen girls who lived in group homes. While it costs about $7,000 more to care for a teen in the specialized programs, studies have found that the reduction in criminal activity saves taxpayers about $78,000 per teen.

This study was published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

FDA Issues New Warning for Gardasil

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new warning about the potential of the HPV vaccine Gardasil to cause fainting immediately following injections. Jennifer Corbett Dooren reported on the new warning in a June 10 article on the Wall Street Journal website:

In a posting aimed at health-care professionals posted on the agency's Web site, the FDA said all vaccine recipients should remain seated or lying down and be closely observed for 15 minutes following vaccination, "to prevent falls and injuries." ...

The FDA said that since October 2007 a discussion about fainting has been in Gardasil's labeling for both the health-care provider and the patient. However, warnings about fainting have been strengthened and moved to a more prominent place on the drug label and on information that is supposed to be given to patients before they are vaccinated.

Gardasil was approved for use in the United States in 2006, and experts recommend that girls aged 11 and 12 receive a series of three doses in order to be protected from four HPV strains that cause the majority of cervical cancer cases.

Groups Promote Sports Opportunities for Urban Girls

According to a June 14 New York Times article by Katie Thomas, advocacy organizations and sports groups throughout the United States are undertaking innovative efforts to encourage sports participation among young girls who live in urban areas:

A study published by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002 reported that girls accounted for 49 percent of Boston’s young people but made up only 33 percent of participants in after-school sports programs. The results surprised the leaders of the youth sports community, and led to the creation of the Boston Girls’ Sports and Physical Activity Project, financed by a local foundation, to evaluate opportunities for girls in the city’s sports programs. ...

Several other groups around the country are increasingly singling out urban girls. In 2000, the Women’s Sports Foundation, an advocacy group that had traditionally focused on policy issues and college athletics, created an initiative that provides grants to groups serving girls and offers a free, girl-centered curriculum to community organizations. The program, GoGirlGo!, has regional offices in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and San Antonio. ...

At some Boys & Girls Clubs ... organizers set up girls-only play times and papered over the windows in the gym door to keep boys from looking in. In New York City, education officials have widened the options available to girls. In the elementary and middle schools, the Office of Fitness and Health Education has begun to offer girl-friendly activities like fitness clubs and yoga classes. High schools have added varsity girls teams in activities like golf, lacrosse and double Dutch.

According to the Women's Sports Foundation, sports participation has been associated with improvements in girls' health, self-esteem, academic performance, and psychological well-being.

Government Website Helps Parents, Girls, Prepare for Teen Years

Most parents would agree that the teenage years come with unique emotional challenges for girls. While the pressure for both boys and girls is high, some of the issues are gender-specific.

To help parents and girls prepare for the challenges of the teen years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created www.girlshealth.gov, a website that the Honolulu Advertiser has described in the following terms:

Full of fitness and nutrition tips for growing girls, [the website] also offers plenty of ideas to boost self-esteem, learning how to handle stress, and dealing with illness or disability.

While the DHHS website may not answer every question a parent (or teenager) will have, the site is designed to get important conversations started, and help keep the lines of communication open between daughters and parents.

Finnish Researchers Say Female Students at Increased Risk of School Burnout

After evaluating 1,800 young people, a Finnish research team concluded that female students are at increased risk for experiencing school burnout.

A May 14 article on the medical news website ScienceDaily indicates that the burnout problem is both prevalent and potentially damaging to the likelihood that female students will continue their education:

Success-oriented female upper secondary school pupils are at the greatest risk: up to 20 percent of them suffer from school burnout.

"These girls are high achievers but they also develop burnout. They tend to develop feelings of inadequacy, in particular, in upper secondary school. By contrast, boys who enter upper secondary school tend to develop more of a cynical, negative stance towards school," says Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro of the University of Jyväskylä, who is in charge of the research. ...

According to Salmela-Aro, school burnout in upper secondary school tends to complicate the transition to further studies, while an enthusiasm for school tends to predict a successful transition to the next education level.

The ScienceDaily described school burnout as "a chronic school-related stress syndrome which manifests as exhaustion, cynicism about school and feelings of inadequacy," and noted that it has been associated with other serious problems, including teen depression.

Study Says Single-Sex Schools Increase Girls' Willingness to Compete

German researchers have determined that girls who attend single-sex schools are more willing to compete against both boys and other girls than are girls who are enrolled in co-educational schools. A June 8 article on the Australian news website The Age described the behavior differences between single-sex students and those from co-ed schools as "stark," and noted that students at girls-only schools may be better prepared for future career challenges:

"Our major finding is that single-sex schooling can affect economically important preferences," say the study's authors, economists Professor Alison Booth, of the Australian National University, and Dr Patrick Nolen, of Essex University, in a paper published by the Institute for the Study of Labor, an international research centre in Germany.

"A single-sex environment makes girls more competitive than girls at co-ed schools ... the benefit of single-sex education -- in terms of increasing competitive behavior -- is being realized primarily by females."

Prof. Booth said that the relative lack of competitiveness among female students from co-ed schools could be the result of pressure on girls in mixed-gender schools to conform to more stereotypical expectations of feminine behavior.

British Study Says Fear of Failure Hinders Girls' Progress

A survey of 1,000 British teenagers has revealed that female students are more fearful of failure than are male students -- even though the girls outperform the boys in standardized testing. A June 8 article on the BBC News website reported that Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the likelihood of experiencing failure-related fears is highest among girls and students from lower socio-economic levels:

Some 46 percent of white working class girls feared educational failure, compared with about a quarter of white middle class boys. White working class boys and white middle class girls were equally fearful of failure (38 percent). ...

The research suggested that some young people developed an ingrained sense of failure, often due to the school's emphasis on measuring success by test results.
Findings suggest this can result in feelings of anxiety and fear which can lead to students dropping out of the education system.

The report said one in 10 was so disillusioned that they were considering leaving education or training.

Reducing female students' fear of failure -- and increasing their self-esteem and self-worth -- are among the primary objectives of a boarding school for girls such as Copper Canyon Academy.

Study Identifies Online Risk Factors for Teen Girls

Teenage girls who present themselves in a sexy way on the Internet are more likely to attract online predators and meet them in person, according to a new study from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

• Dr. Jennie Noll studied 173 girls ages 14 to 17 years old.
• Each girl created an avatar or electronic image to depict herself on the Internet.
• The girls also completed various questionnaires about their lifestyle.
• Participants who chose sexy avatars and who had lifestyle factors such as substance abuse, at-risk peer groups, and preoccupations with sex were more likely to meet male Internet acquaintances in person and to be solicited online.

"Those adolescents who may be unaware of how their appearance might be perceived may not, from a developmental perspective, possess the social sophistication necessary to field and ward off sexual advances in ways that protect them from sexually explicit suggestions," Dr. Noll wrote in journal Pediatrics. "This may be a particularly important lesson to convey to female adolescents who are especially vulnerable to exploitation and victimization, such as those who have been victims of childhood abuse."

As more young people flock to online social networking sites and other forms of digital communication, parents need to educate themselves (and their children) about issues related to online safety for teens.

Four Factors Predict Early Sex Among Teens

A study of 273 teenagers found that four factors can predict which ones will start sex early. These factors are low self-esteem, poor grades, inferior family relationships, and watching too much television.

Dr. Janet Hyde and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin found that girls who are sexually active at early ages showed these four risk factors, as well as one more: living with a single mother or stepparent.

For boys, other risk factors include having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder and entering puberty early.

Dr. Hyde said that TV viewing is a factor because, "we come to believe [TV] is a reality."

"Kids who watch a lot of TV come to believe that all kids really are having sex, so they’re going to do it too or they are going to be the odd one out," she said. Dr. Hyde added that television programs rarely show any negative consequences to sex, such as getting sexually transmitted infections or becoming pregnant.

Study Finds Unhappiness Highest Among Female Dropouts

A 16-year study of New Zealand youth has determined that girls who drop out of school are more likely than their male counterparts to be unhappy because of their decision. The study, which is still ongoing, is funded by the nation's Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

A May 26 article on the New Zealand news website Stuff provided the following findings about female high school dropouts:

• Sixteen-year-old female high school dropouts were the unhappiest group.
• Female high school dropouts were less likely to be following other interests, and more likely to be hanging out with peers who were into drugs or thought unsafe sex was OK.
• The survey found that female high school dropouts were more anxious than boys were about leaving school.
• The female high school dropouts were more worried about maintaining old friendships and starting new ones, and about practical matters such as managing their money and developing necessary study skills.

Girls in New Zealand are not the only ones to experience the negative effects of dropping out of school. In the United States, female dropouts are likely to suffer from a significantly lower quality of life than their more education peers, and are at risk for a range of other unhealthy teen behaviors and experiences, such as unsafe sex, abusive relationships, and substance abuse.