Verified by 
The Center for Research on Girls (CRG) at Laurel School just released preliminary findings from its study, 21st Century Athenas: Aligning Achievement and Well Being, and although there is more data analysis to come, the CRG notes that while girls are surpassing boys academically, they may be paying a high price for their success.
Belle Liang, Ph.D. of Boston College, the lead investigator in the study, notes that while girls have made significant gains (and now surpass boys in nearly every measure of academic success) since the 1992 groundbreaking American Association of University Women's report, How Schools Shortchange Girls, 12th grade girls are almost twice as likely (compared to girls from the 1980s) to report not liking school very much.1 Liang also cites studies that have consistently found higher levels of psychological stress in adolescent girls than boys,2 stronger reactions to stress than boys,3 and higher rates of depression, eating disorders, and other clinical disorders than boys.4
Using a multi-method (surveys and interviews), multi-informant, and multi-site design, investigators hope to gain a developmental perspective on girls' stress, adjustment, and well-being over a two-year period.5 However, the patterns that have emerged from their preliminary findings indicate that:
- Higher levels of school stress are significantly related to higher levels of emotional problems and other problems;
- Developmental trends indicate that older students experience significantly higher levels of school stress compared to younger students.
The data also suggests that there are a variety of social and psychological factors that may influence girls' well-being and buffer stress. For example, high quality, close relationships with significant others (i.e., friends, mentors, and the school community) are related to higher levels of well-being, and high quality friendships may be protective for adolescent girls in the face of a variety of stressors, including parental pressures. Similarly, having a strong sense of purpose also seems to be stress-buffering and associated with higher level of well-being.
According to the CRG report, the 21st Century Athenas project has three primary research objectives:
- to examine the impact of relational health (in the context of parent, mentor, peer, community relationships) on the relationship between stress and adolescent adjustment and well-being,
- to examine the impact of relational health on girls' adjustment and well-being over time using longitudinal data, and
- to examine the impact of student, teacher, and parent achievement values and expectations on stress, adjustment, and well-being.
As the study unfolds, Liang and co-investigator Renee Spencer of Boston University will continue analyzing the quantitative data (e.g., surveys) and will begin analyzing the qualitative data (e.g., interviews). Through further analyses of data already collected as well as the follow-up data (i.e., longitudinal data) that is being collected during the 2011-2012 school year, Liang and Spencer hope to provide a richer, more comprehensive picture of the development of adolescent girls.
© 2011 Sherrie Bourg Carter, All Rights Reserved
Sherrie Bourg Carter is the author of High Octane Women: How Superachievers Can Avoid Burnout (Prometheus Books, 2011).
References:
1 Livingston, A., & Wirt, J. (2004). The Condition of Education 2004 in Brief (NCES 2004-076). US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
2 Rudolph, K. D. (2002). Gender differences in emotional responses to interpersonal stress during adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30(4, Suppl), 3-13; Sontag, L. M., Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn J., & Warren, M. P. (2008). Coping with social stress: Implications for psychopathology in young adolescent girls. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology: An official publication of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology,
36(8), 1159-1174.
3 Colarossi, L. G., & Eccles, J. S. (2003). Differential effects of support providers on adolescents' mental health. Social Work Research, 27(1), 19-30; Grant, K. E., Compas, B. E., Thurm, A. E., McMahon, S. D., Gipson, P. Y., Campbell, A. J., & Westerholm, R. I. (2006). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Evidence of moderating and mediating effects. Clinical Psychology Review, 26(3), 257-283; Jackson, Y., & Warren, J. S. (2000). Appraisal, social support, and life events: Predicting outcome behavior in school-age children. Child Development, 71(5), 1441-1457; Licitra-Kleckler, D. M., & Waas, G. A. (1993). Perceived social support among high-stress adolescents: The role of peers and family. Journal of Adolescent Research, 8(4), 381-402; Pomerantz, E. M., Altermatt, E. R., & Saxon, J. L. (2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed: Gender differences in academic performance and internal distress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 396-404; Wenz-Gross, M., Siperstein, G. N., Untch, A. S., & Widaman, K. F. (1997). Stress, social support, and adjustment of adolescents in middle school. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 17(2), 129-151.
4 Zahn-Waxler, C., Shirtcliff, E. A., & Marceau, K. (2008). Disorders of childhood and adolescence:
Gender and psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 275-303.
5 The study's subject pool is made up of 6th, 8th, and 10th grade girls in their 2010-2011 school year at two schools: Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio and Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The sample also includes the parents and teachers/mentors of the subjects in the study.
