News for Women in Psychiatry

In recent years, studies have shown that boys overestimate their academic abilities and girls underestimate theirs. in a study published in March in the Journal of Child Development, psychologists tracked 807 students, half starting in third grade and half starting in sixth, for three years. They were periodically asked to assess their own academic abilities and express their anxiety or depression. Their teachers’ assessments were collected for comparison.

In first and second grades, earlier researchers found, most students give themselves high marks. At the end of the third grade, the Notre Dame researchers noted only a small gap between boys and girls in the accuracy of their ratings.

But from then on, more boys thought better of their skills than their teachers did; the number of girls who were overly harsh on themselves increased at roughly the same rate. Emotional measures were similar: depression grew among girls and fell among boys. Anxiety levels for girls remained almost constant, but fell among boys after third grade. The low self-esteem of girls can be largely explained by the higher incidence of emotional problems among girls. The researchers also concluded that the girls’ depression was the likely cause of their low self-esteem and not vice-versa.

Researchers interviewed 88 youths, ages 8 to 18, receiving treatment at mental health clinics in an attempt to link stress and depression. The study was reported in the Journal of CNN Development. The lead author was Karen Rudolf, Ph.D., and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champage.

Children between 13 and 18 experienced more stress than those younger. Although both sexes experienced the same amount of stress, boys were more likely to complain of stressful situations such as poor academic performance, getting sick, moving to a new town, getting arrested for stealing, or other events unconnected to interpersonal problems. Girls experienced most of their stress from relationships, including fights with siblings, peers, or friends.

Rudolf said, "Girls may be socialized into a more nurturing role and may be more likely to be involved with problems with their families or close relationships with friends. This can lead to depression when these roles are disrupted."

The increased usage of illegal anabolic steroids among girls (which so some researchers attribute in part to a reverse anorexia) has caught up with the levels that began to be established by boys in the 1980s. This exposes girls to the same severe health risks but with the added potential of destroying their ability to bear children.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse says about 175,000 teenage girls in the United States have reported taking anabolic steroids at least once within the year of time surveyed-a rise of 100 percent since 1991. The causes vary from trying to become high school sports stars, working to achieve a fashionable lean but muscular look, to deep psychological disorder. Liver cancer, heart disease and uncontrollable aggressiveness are among other serious side effects that can occur in both males and females of all ages. The health damages might not appear for years or decades after the steroids are used.

While opportunities for young female athletes are growing, the coaching ranks are overwhelmingly male. High school athletic directors--87 percent of who are men-tend to ignore qualified women for coaching positions. In community programs like soccer and Little League, coaches are usually fathers who have sports experience. Soccer moms generally lack athletic backgrounds and are reluctant to try coaching.

According to Carol Oglesby, a professor of sports psychology at Temple University, women have little opportunity to learn the coaching ropes. Professor Oglesby attributed this vacuum, paradoxically, to the merging of men’s and women’s physical education departments in most colleges.

"Women’s P.E. used to be a source of coaches’ training, " she said, "but now the focus has shifted to more academic interests," like lifetime fitness. Moreover, working women with family responsibilities rarely have time to devote to coaching, which requires daily practice. Many male coaches are either insensitive to the emotional needs of adolescent girls, and to their physical development, or simply ignorant of them. In addition, in the extreme cases, coaches may sexually abuse their athletes.

Female athletes are particularly vulnerable because they are conditioned to please male authority figures. Girls new to sports tend to have fragile self-image, even if they are successful, and may blame themselves for a untoward behavior of a coach. In addition, girls do not want to disappoint parents who are optimistic for athletic success.

Since parents do not want to be regarded as pushy, many of them are timid about addressing the coach. They may also be afraid of reprisals toward their children if they challenge the coach. Experts say this is a critical mistake, since parents are in the best position to prevent or detect abuse. Girl athletes should be encouraged to question a coach’s actions or motives and should never tolerate sexually triggered behavior.

While sexual harassment is the most severe form of abuse, coaches can harm female athletes in other ways with overzealous training programs, competitive pressure, or admonishment for a poor performance. Regressive approaches traditionally used with boys do not always work with girls, who mature differently and have a different emotional perspective.

"The world socializes boys to think they should take any kind of criticism, but girls are more sensitive," said Dr. Brenda Armstrong, a pediatric cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center, and a youth track coach. While most boys will "tough out" criticism as a badge of honor, a girl who is berated may withdraw.

A criticism of a coach will often involve a girl’s weight, said Leslie Heywood, an associate professor of English and cultural studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

"What comes up again and again," she said, "is that male coaches have an inordinate focus on the female athlete’s body. They make derogatory comments like, ‘Oh, it looks like you have put on a few pounds."’ That kind of message can lead a teenage girl, already influenced by media images of excessive thinness, to unhealthy dieting and eating disorders.

Body image issues can be a major concern for girls who show great talent, especially in sports where leanness is prized. To prevent over-training and very low body fat, thus increasing the risk of injury, runners must be monitored. Girls who train heavily may delay puberty and keep estrogen levels low, setting themselves up for stress fractures.

The new focus on technology and science in girls’ schools comes just at a time when high school girls are catching up to boys in science and math. However, there is still a major gap: In 1998, girls were only 17 percent of the students who took the advanced placement exam in computer science.

The gap persists through higher education and into the workplace. Women earn 18 percent of the doctorates in computer science and only 12 percent of all engineering Ph.D.’s. Women make up nearly half the nation’s workforce, yet they account for just 22 percent of employed scientists and engineers.

The problem starts with puberty, when girls begin to lose the self-confidence that once helped them excel in math and science. Teachers contribute by failing to call on girls as often as they call on boys and by discouraging girls in other subtle ways.

Recently some researchers have claimed that boys, not girls, are shortchanged in school; all the attention paid to girls has harmed boys. But we continue to value activities traditionally done by men more than those done by women. Society is supportive of the girl who wants to be assertive and athletic or to become an investment banker than of the boy who wants to be reflective and quiet or to become a childcare worker. "You act like a girl" is a major insulting remark to a boy.

If being a good student is too closely identified with girls, many boys will not want academic success. Instead of examining why the things girls do are devalued, the talk is how "helping girls hurts boys." What is not talked about is the fear that boys who do "girl things" will become less masculine. When nurturing, caring, and expression of feelings are viewed as girls’ traits-and not good for boys-boys are at emotional risk.

Pitting boys against girls in competition for good education shortchanges both sexes. The educational gender wars must stop.