Boarding Schools for Girls

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

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 1 Comment

Already a published author at age 15, a Massachusetts girl is working hard to spread the message that bullying isn't acceptable -- and that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens face a particularly pervasive form of harassment.

Brigitte Berman addressed these topics in her book, Dorie Witt's Guide to Surviving Bullies, and has continued her advocacy through a string of personal appearances and media interviews. According to an article by Hannah Clay Wareham of the Bay Windows newspaper, Berman blends statistics and personal experiences when discussing the problem of bullying:

In the reference section at the back of the book, the author supplies some statistics: "In a national survey conducted on teens 12 to 17 years old by the National Mental Health Association, 78 percent of kids reported that gay or thought-to-be-gay teens are teased and bullied in their schools or communities. Furthermore, 93 percent hear derogatory words about sexual orientation."

"Unfortunately, people are using ’gay’ or ’lesbian’ as an insult, but it’s not an insult. It’s just your sexual orientation," Berman said. "It shouldn’t make a difference [to the way] people view their peers."

Berman’s 13-year-old sister Margot was the target of cyber-based LGBT slurs in the past year. "I remember that she was quite distressed because ... people have posted lesbian remarks about her and her friends, and hinted at them on profiles and on [AOL Instant Messenger]. She was really hurt," Berman recalled.

Labels: teenagers, bullying, gay teens

Posted By: E.B.W. 0 Comments

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

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 study has found a significant link between a father's involvement in his teen's life and teen sexual activity. The five-year study involved surveys of more than 3,000 teens, who rated parental involvement on a five-point scale.

According to an article on the study that appeared in The Joplin (Missouri) Globe, researchers found that for each point of knowledge that dads had [of their child’s friends and activities], teens were seven percent less likely to be sexually active.

Results of the study emphasize the importance of caring for kids, not just providing for them. Many parents are so busy working long, stressful hours to provide for their families that aren't able to spend enough time together.

But being actively engaged in a teenager's life can have more of an impact than most parents realize.

Labels: parenting, teenagers, sex, fathers

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Girls who have been sexually or physically abused during childhood are twice as likely to develop severe mental problems, according to a study from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London. The effect did not hold true for boys.

Dr. Helen Fisher and her colleagues studied two groups of people between the ages of 16 and 64. Women in the study group who had histories of psychosis were more likely to have been abused as children.

Dr. Fisher said she believes that these girls learn to distance themselves from other people and to "internalize" their difficulties. "These findings point to a need for gender-specific interventions for abused children to prevent later mental health and behavioral problems," she said.

The study appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Labels: abuse, mental health

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

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

An annual survey from the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that teens are drinking and smoking less but abusing more prescription painkillers, stimulants, and marijuana.

According to the CASA report, smoking and drinking have been on a steady decline since 1997. For example, the percentage of 12th graders drinking decreased from 19% to 11%; among 10th graders, the decline was 43% to 29%.

However, more teenagers are using prescription drugs, especially painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin, and stimulants Ritalin and Adderall. The number of prescriptions written for these drugs has doubled in the past 10 years.

The annual survey, called "Monitoring the Future," was conducted by the University of Michigan, using data on 46,000 students in grades eight to 12.

Labels: abuse, drug_use, prescription_drugs

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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

Posted By: Boarding Schools for Girls 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