Boarding Schools for Girls

Once seen as a problem that was limited to bodybuilders and elite athletes, steroid abuse has invaded America's high schools and middle schools - and muscle-bound football players aren't the only ones who are at risk.

According to an article by Boston Globe staff writer Stan Grossfeld, teenage girls are also turning to steroids in misguided attempts to improve their appearance:

A recent report by the Oregon Health and Science University using data from the Centers for Disease Control said 5.3 percent of teenage girls admitted to using anabolic steroids, mostly for body-enhancing reasons or self-protection, not athletics.

According to 2003 CDC data, seventh-grade girls were the fastest-growing group of steroid users, with more than 7 percent using them, the controversial report stated.

Steroids can cause liver tumors, increase blood pressure, stunt growth and, in girls, deepen their voices. Nevertheless, one recent study found that 57 percent of high school steroid users said they would risk shortening their life for increased performance.

"They're young and they think they are invincible," says the study's author, Jay Hoffman, chairman of health and science at the College of New Jersey.

Dionne Roberts, who told Grossfeld that she tried steroids to help her get "six-pack abs" shortly after graduating high school in 2003, said that the drugs drove her to the brink of despair. "I just became so totally depressed," she said in the article. "I was definitely suicidal. I just was so upset the smallest thing would set me off."

Synthetic substances that are similar to the hormone testosterone, steroids can inflict a variety of undesirable effects on the bodies of teen girls, including irregular menstruation, excess facial and body hair, and severe acne.

Labels: athletes, steriods, drug

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A research team at the University of Alabama has concluded that early puberty and poor parenting skills can result in increased levels of aggression among adolescent girls.

The UA study, which was published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, involved interviews with 330 fifth-grade girls and their parents.

About 80 of the girls who were surveyed were discovered to have matured early, which the researchers defined as beginning to menstruate one year earlier than the average age for their racial and ethnic group. These early maturers were more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than were the other girls, but they were not more aggressive - unless they also had parents who showed little interest in them.
"Early maturation only predicted physical aggression when combined with low maternal nurturance," wrote the authors of the study, which was led by Dr. Sylvie Mrug.

According to a press release that accompanied the study's publication, the researchers theorize that reduced parental involvement may contribute to increased aggression by forcing the young girls to find other (often less-than-ideal) mentors outside the family.

Early-maturing girls may be at higher risk of aggression or delinquency because they are more likely to be accepted by and form relationships with older boys, who are more likely than younger children to engage in undesirable behaviors, the authors note.

"Parental nurturance may decrease girls' susceptibility to negative peer influence," they write. "Also, parental nurturance may help girls cope with challenges associated with early puberty. By listening to their daughters' difficulties and providing support and encouragement, nurturing parents can help them develop better coping skills and diffuse negative emotions that might otherwise manifest as aggression."

As a result of their findings, the researchers recommend that health care professionals who treat early-maturing girls help ensure that the patients' parents understand the importance of adequate levels of guidance and nurturing.

Labels: parenting, aggression, puberty

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Migraine headaches don't usually rank very high on the list of health concerns that most parents of teens and tweens are on the lookout for in their children. But according to an article by GateHouse News Service reporter Jessica Young, the problem of migraine headaches among children and teens may be much more prevalent than most people realize:

Dr. Merle Diamond, co-director of the world-renowned Diamond Headache Clinic inpatient unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago, said moms and dads frequently write off symptoms as minor sinus pressure because migraines don't seem plausible for the juvenile set.

But according to the clinic, 5 percent of children and adolescents (as opposed to 12 percent of adults) battle chronic headaches and migraines — an incidence rate confirmed by other migraine experts.

"We've seen 2- to 4-year-olds come through with migraines, so it's definitely impacting the young demographic. And it's tough because kids aren't able to articulate what's hurting," said Diamond. ..."It's such a miserable and oftentimes disabling condition to live with."

Dr. David Sperry, a pediatric neurologist and migraine specialist, told Young that as many as one in four of his patients have exhibited symptoms that are consistent with migraines.

"For a long time, those in the medical field and society at large didn't believe kids could possibly be wrestling with migraine headaches," Sperry told Young. "It was kind of 'Oh, please!' with them giving a pat on the head and handing over a Tylenol. And this response prolonged the child's agony."

Treatment options for young migraine sufferers include stress-relief and trigger-identification techniques, preventative medications, and biofeedback, Young wrote, while some extreme cases may mandate hospitalization.

Labels: health, headaches

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In the 30-plus years since Title IX opened up a world of opportunities for female athletes in the United States, girls have made significant strides in all fields of competition.

But one area in which women are outpacing their male counterparts is nothing to celebrate: According to a CNN report, girls are up to eight times more likely than boys to suffer serious injuries to their anterior cruciate ligaments, or ACLs.

"I reconstructed ACLs for just four male high school soccer players [in 2006], compared to 25 girls," orthopedic surgeon John Xerogeanes told CNN reporter Judy Fortin.

One of the knee's four major ligaments, the ACL helps stabilize the knee and minimize the amount of stress that is placed on the joint. Because of the strain that many sports place on the knee, ACL injuries are relatively common among athletes.

According to the Sports Injury Clinic website, the following symptoms may indicate that an athlete has torn her ACL:

• An audible pop or crack when the injury takes place
• Extreme pain, followed immediately by a feeling of instability in the knee
• Extensive swelling soon after the injury occurs
• Restricted ability to move the knee or straighten the leg
• Tenderness alongside the knee joint

Though specialists have documented the disproportionate risk faced by female athletes, they have not determined exactly why girls are more prone to ACL tears.

"We know that there is a huge increase in ACL injuries when you compare female athletes to male athletes," Xerogeanes said during the CNN interview. "We've looked at a million different things in terms of size of the pelvis, angulation of the knees, hormones and the way girls fire their muscles when they land. We're not exactly sure why this happens."

Labels: athletes, injuries

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 1 Comment

Depression and anxiety in teenaged girls is linked to low bone density, according to a study in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Dr. Lorah Dorn, an endocrinologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, studied girls ages 11 to 17 years old who had histories of depression or anxiety, and found they had a lowered bone mineral content. Other studies have found this to be true among adult women with depressive and anxiety problems.

Dr. Dorn was unsure why this link exists, but she speculated that high levels of certain stress hormones might affect bone density. Low bone density can have serious complications, including an increased risk for bone fractures.

Labels: health, anxiety, bone_loss

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An 11-member panel of Canadian health care experts has determined that young women who smoke tobacco or who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for developing breast cancer later in life. According to an article by Canwest News Service writer Sharon Kirkey, inhaling tobacco smoke early in life can result in cancer decades later:

"Even moderate exposure to passive smoking, such as living or working with a smoker early in life, increases a woman's risk of breast cancer when she is in her 30s, 40s and 50s," panelist and University of Toronto public health expert Dr. Anthony Miller says. ...

After reviewing ... more than 100 studies ... the panel concluded that all women who smoke, particularly young women, are at increased risk of breast cancer, and that even young women who don't smoke are at increased risk if they're exposed to second-hand smoke.

"An estimated 80 to 90 percent of women have been exposed to tobacco smoke in adolescence and adulthood," says panel chairman Neil Collishaw, of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. "Those women face an increased risk of breast cancer because of that exposure."

In addition to the heightened likelihood of developing breast cancer, teens who smoke are at increased risk for suffering from a wide range of health problems and engaging in a variety of dangerous behaviors.

Labels: health, teenagers, girls, cancer, smoking

Posted By: E.B.W. 1 Comment

Emily Ford has never been much of an athlete (she describes having "alternately cried and prayed" her way through one season of youth softball). But Ford's 10-year-old daughter, Nellie, is embracing sports -- and mom couldn't be happier.

In a  column on the Salisbury Post website, Ford noted that her daughter's participation in soccer, swimming, and other sports may yield benefits that extend far beyond the field (or pool):

Girls who participate in sports are less likely to get pregnant or drop out of school. They're less likely to smoke or abuse drugs and more likely to delay their first sexual experience. ...

For centuries, boys and men have honed their skills on fields and courts. Teamwork, goal setting, the pursuit of excellence -- all lessons learned in the world of sport and critical to the world of work.

Thanks to Title IX, which mandates equal athletic opportunities for boys and girls in public schools, girls have been learning these lessons too. Eighty percent of female executives at Fortune 500 companies say they played sports.

Playing sports may also help girls reduce their risk of developing breast cancer and osteoporosis later in life, Ford reported.

Labels: girls, sports, young women

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 1 Comment

A new survey of more than 33,000 girls ages 12 to 17 years old has revealed that that one in four has experienced a serious fight or attack from another girl in the past year.

Researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found the following:

• 19 percent of the girls had been in a fight at school
• 14 percent had been in a group fight
• 6 percent had attacked someone else with the intention of hurting that person.

Using drugs or alcohol put a girl at higher risk for such fights, SAMHSA reported.

"The findings are all alarming," said SAMHSA spokesperson Pamela Hyde. "We need to do a better job of reaching girls at risk and teaching them how to resolve problems without resorting to violence."

Labels: fighting, violence

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A rattled mother wrote to an advice column in the Calgary Sunasking for help with her adolescent daughter's question about birth control. The woman's 14-year-old daughter had just asked to be put on the pill because she’d heard it makes "that time of the month" less uncomfortable. The mom was unsure how to respond.

The advice columnist advised the mother that the most important concern isn't the specific topic of the conversation, but the overall quality of the relationship she has with her daughter -- a relationship that can be improved by not over-reacting to what might at first feel like an unsettling question:

The most important thing here is the relationship you have with your daughter. The best thing you can do is first educate yourself, so that as a parent, you help her make decisions based on your knowledge and understanding, while ensuring you are still (somewhat) holding the reins of your not-yet-adult child.

The columnist suggested that daughter and mother visit the family doctor together, where the daughter can ask questions and get more information -- not just about the pill, but about other concerns related to teen sexual activity, such as teens and sexually transmitted diseases.

Labels: parenting, sex, adolescents, contraception

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 1 Comment

According to a nationwide study of thousands of 5-year-olds in the United Kingdom, boys are two months behind girls on average in their verbal skills and learning ability by their first day of school.

Teachers and parents have long suspected that a learning gap opens up early on between boys and girls, but this was the first study that properly examined and quantified this phenomenon in very young children.

The finding comes in research from the Millennium Cohort Study, which is tracking the development of 15,000 children born in the first two years of this century.

The study involved assessments conducted in each child’s home by trained interviewers. The assessments were designed to measure key information-processing skills. They showed that girls were roughly two months ahead, on average, on each of the three measures.

Labels: school

Posted By: E.B.W. 1 Comment