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Q: 20 or so Self Esteem Facts, Figures, and Statistics for Girls and Boys ( Answered 4 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: 20 or so Self Esteem Facts, Figures, and Statistics for Girls and Boys
Category: Health
Asked by: admagic-ga
List Price: $50.00
Posted: 12 Aug 2006 23:48 PDT
Expires: 11 Sep 2006 23:48 PDT
Question ID: 755468
I need some succinct facts and statistics on Self Esteem in males
under 18, and females under 18.  I need the data to be "split up" into
male and female information.  I need "nuggets" like these:

* 70% of girls ages 15-17 aren?t even bothering to participate in
normal every day activities due to a lack of self-worth

* Today?s ?beauty ideals? create ?appearnace anxiety? for 86.9% of all
teenage-aged girls.

*92% of the young women in the USA want to change some aspect of their
physical appearance

etc.

Thanks!
Answer  
Subject: Re: 20 or so Self Esteem Facts, Figures, and Statistics for Girls and Boys
Answered By: politicalguru-ga on 13 Aug 2006 02:07 PDT
Rated:4 out of 5 stars
 
Dear Admagic, 

[1]
"Adolescent boys with high self-esteem are more likely to begin sexual
activity early while girls with similar confidence levels are more apt
to delay it, IUSM researchers have concluded [...]
Fifty percent of the boys with high self-esteem in the seventh grade
reported having sex by the time they started ninth grade compared to
twenty-nine percent of boys with low self-esteem. Forty percent  of
girls with low self-esteem and eighteen percent of those with high
self-esteem said they had experienced sex before ninth grade."
(SOURCE: "Self-Esteem& Sex: How Boys and Girls Differ" , Indiana
University Medicine Media Relations,
<http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/iu_medicine/02_fall/teenSex.html>).

***

[2]
""Girls' self-esteem peaks when they are 9 years old, then takes a
nose dive," clinical psychologist Robin F. Goodman writes on the New
York University Child Study Center Web site." (SOURCE: CAROL MCGRAW,
"Media, hormones, peer pressure do a number on girls' confidence", The
News-SEntinel, Mon, Jul. 31, 2006,
<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/15163811.htm>).

***

[3]
"By age 15, clinically depressed girls outnumber boys with depression
2 to 1, according to NYU Child Study Center." (ibid, quoting
statistics from Smart-Girl.org; "The Disappearing Girl, Learning the
Language of Teenage Depression"; National Survey on Drug Use and
Health; National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated
Disorders; Dove Self Esteem Fund)

***

[4]
"75 percent

8- and 9-year-olds who said they liked their looks. That figure
dropped to 56 percent among girls ages 12 and 13."
(ibid)

***

[5]
"9

Age at which at least half of all girls report having been on a diet.
Eighty percent of eighthgrade girls say they are on diets." (ibid)

***

[6] 
"7 million

Girls and women who have eating disorders, compared with 1 million
boys and men. Ten percent report onset at 10 years or younger; 33
percent ages 11 to 15." (ibid)

***

[7] 
"20 percent

College-aged women in America who are bulimic." (ibid) 

***

[8]
""girls were particularly likely to be critical of themselves, and
one-quarter of older girls reported that they did not like or hated
themselves. In contrast, only 14 percent of boys said they felt this
way."" (SOURCE: JANE E. BRODY, "Personal Health: Girls and Puberty:
the Crisis Years", Women's Health,
<http://www.nytimes.com/specials/women/warchive/971104_1097.html>).

***

[9] 
"14 percent of high school girls said they smoked between several
cigarettes to a pack or more a week. Two-thirds of the smokers said
they used cigarettes to relieve stress; half said they were influenced
by other smokers." (ibid)

***

[10]
"15 percent of teen-age girls reported drinking alcohol weekly or
monthly and 20 percent said they had used an illegal drug in the past
month. " (ibid)

***

[11] 
"Girls who watch TV commercials featuring underweight models lose
self-confidence and become more dissatisfied with their own bodies"
(SOURCE: Dove Campaign, "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty to Help Foster
Self-Esteem in Girls", PR Wire,
<http://sev.prnewswire.com/advertising/20060127/NYF01927012006-1.html>,
quoting a research conducted at Flinders University, South Australia,
2002).

***

[12] 

  * One-third of all girls in grades nine to 12 think they are overweight,
    and 60 percent are trying to lose weight. (ibid, quoting the Girl
Scout Research Institute, 2002-2004).

***

[13] 

  * Only 56 percent of seventh graders say they like the way they
look. (SOURCE: ibid)

*** 

[14] 
  * Studies show that 57 percent of girls have fasted, gone on diets, used
    food substitutes, or smoked more cigarettes to lose weight.
(SOURCE: ibid, quoting "Weighing In.  Girl Scouts of the USA, 2004.")

***

[15] 
 * Research also shows that messages girls receive from the media can
    damage their feelings of self-worth and negatively affect their
    behavior.  More than one in four girls surveyed feel the media pressure
    them to have a perfect body. (SOURCE: ibid, quoting the same soruce as 11)

***

[16] 
  * As a result, girls question their own beauty: between 50 and 70 percent
    of girls of normal weight believe they are overweight.(SOURCE:
ibid, quoting AC Nielsen (2004)).

***

[17] 
"More than 90 percent of girls (15 to 17 years) want to change at least
     one aspect of their physical appearance, with body weight ranking the
     highest.
       * Nearly a quarter would consider undergoing plastic surgery.
       * 13 percent acknowledge having an eating disorder."
(SOURCE: Dove Campaign, "Negative Feelings About Their Looks Cause
Majority of Girls to Disengage From Life" PR Newswire,
,http://sev.prnewswire.com/household-consumer-cosmetics/20060510/NYW05810052006-1.html>)

***

[18 - a collection of 9 factoids, which would make it 18-26, there are
many more factoids from this source]
"    *  One-fifth of all 8th graders in the U.S. are considered to be
at high risk of school failure.
    * Approximately 30% of our youth drop out and fail to complete high school.
    * Homicide is now the nation's third leading cause of death for
elementary and middle school children. There were 2,555 juvenile
homicides in 1990.
    * It is estimated that 135,000 guns are brought into schools every
day. Violence in schools is now the primary concern of educators
nationwide, and 82% report a significant increase in violence over the
past five years.
    * The incidence of births to unmarried teens nearly doubled
between 1965 and 1985. Over a million adolescents get pregnant each
year.
    * The federal government spent more than $21.5 billion last year
on welfare for families started by teenagers. This is $1.7 billion
higher than in 1988.
    * The teen suicide rate has doubled since 1968. Ten (10) percent
of adolescent boys and 18 percent of girls have attempted suicide and
approximately 30% contemplated it. In 1985, some 5,399 young people
between ages 5 and 24 took their own lives in suicide.
    * In the last 20 years, the incidence of anorexia nervosa, an
eating disorder that stems from psychological distress, has doubled.
    * Evidence supports the fact that most schools are not conducive
to self-esteem since the level of self-esteem declines for most
students the longer they are in school. " (SOURCE: Robert W. Reasoner,
"Review of Self-Esteem Research", National Association for
Self-Esteem, <http://www.self-esteem-nase.org/research.shtml>).

***

[19] 

"Children with very low self-esteem, or what the researchers called
self-derogation, were 1.6 times more likely to meet the criteria for
drug dependence nine years later than other children." (SOURCE:
"Sociologists Find Low Self-esteem At 11 Predicts Drug Dependency At
20" <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=41115>).

***

[20] 

"Of the adopted teen-agers, 55 percent scored high on measurements of
self-esteem, compared with 45 percent of all teen-agers in the
institute's previous, larger study of adolescents nationwide. "
(SOURCE: Tamar Lewin, " Adopted Youths Are Normal In Self-Esteem,
Study Finds", NYT, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9901E2DC113DF930A15755C0A962958260>)

***

Some more quote: 
"Although self esteem drops during adolescence for everyone, girls
suffer most. An AAUW nationwide survey reported in 1991 that while on
average 69 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls elementary school
said they were "happy the way I am," in high school, 46 percent of
boys and only 29 percent of girls claimed this satisfaction."
(SOURCE: Nancy DuVergne Smith, "How Schools Shortchange Girls",
<http://members.aol.com/nancyds/girls.html>).

***
"Girls whose families criticize their weight or eating habits may
develop lasting problems with body image and self-esteem, a new study
suggests. [...] Researchers found that of 455 college women with poor
body image, more than 80 percent said their parents or siblings had
made negative comments about their bodies during childhood." (SOURCE:
"Family?s weight comments harm girls for years" Reuters,
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14245677/>).

***

"    *  Boys' self-esteem declines more after divorce than girls'."
(SOURCE: Hilda Rodriguez and Chandler Arnold, "CHILDREN & DIVORCE: A
SNAPSHOT", October 1998,
<http://www.clasp.org/publications/children_and_divorce.htm>)

***

And : 
"The alleged crisis in girls' self-esteem said to occur during the
first years of adolescence is not confirmed by this report. While 21%
of youngsters aged 12 to 14 are reported to have lower levels of
self-esteem, no significant gender differences were found. By ages 18
to 19, the number of youths with moderate levels of self-esteem rises,
and those with low self-esteem decreases. However, girls continue to
be at greater risk of suffering from depression. Twelve percent of
girls and 6% of boys between the ages of 15 and 19 have experienced at
least one episode of "major depression.""
Heather-jane Robertson, "Sad, Bad, Mad: Responding to The Health of
Canada's Children" , <http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/krob0011.htm>)

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search strategy,
among others: "Self Esteem" "boys OR girls OR gender" "adolescents OR
children ..., "Self Esteem" "boys OR girls OR gender" "adolscents OR
children" ..., "Self Esteem" boys percent, "Self Esteem" girls
percent, "Self Esteem" girls performance, "Self Esteem" "of * *
girls", "Self Esteem" "of * girls", "Self Esteem" girls, Self Esteem

Request for Answer Clarification by admagic-ga on 13 Aug 2006 16:18 PDT
This is great for the female part of the answer.  I just need more
stats on the MALE side.  And please try to stay with the self-esteem
and confidence theme.  There seems to be a lot of this research that
is "off topic".

Otherwise, great work!

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 14 Aug 2006 02:13 PDT
Dear Admagic, 

Here are several such factiods: 

"African American adolescent boys with nonmarried parents are more at
risk for developing low self-esteem compared with other African
American adolescents."
Jelani Mandara, Ph.D. and Carolyn B. Murray, Ph.D , "AFRICAN AMERICAN
ADOLESCENT BOYS WITH NONMARRIED PARENTS ARE MORE AT RISK FOR LOW
SELF-ESTEEM", <http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles/child_behavior/africanamerican.html>

"boys' self-esteem  recovers more quickly and rises higher in high school"
http://advancement.sdsu.edu/marcomm/Spring2000News/ReleasesONLY/twengenr.html

"Some American research has found that boys with the highest
self-esteem and confidence in approaching girls also ranked as the
greatest sexual harassers in the school."
Stephen Fisher assesses three approaches to boyswork.
http://www.xyonline.net/TheBoys.shtml

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 14 Aug 2006 03:44 PDT
Suicide Among Black Youths -- United States, 1980-1995: 
"[...] the suicide rate among boys aged 10-14 has doubled over the
period; among boys 15-19 it is up 30%. Among white girls aged 15-19,
the suicide rate has not changed since 1980"
Would a US Federal Agency Mislead the Public and Endanger Children to
Protect a Cabinet Secretary's Feminist Agenda?
http://www.responsibleopposing.com/comment/suicide.html

"low self-esteem did not predict any type of violence in boys"
Stopping Violence Before It Starts
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB4536-1/index1.html

"statistics from a study with 3,400 12th grade high school boys: 6.6%
reported having resorted to steroids; more than two-thirds of the boys
started before
the age of 16.  [...] Those at risk include boys who have been teased
as a child about being too fat or too short. The boys at highest risk
are those who base their self-esteem solely on how they look." 
Nancy Clark, MS, RD April 2004, The Athlete's Kitchen,
<http://www.athletesadvisor.com/nutrition/april_04.htm>

"an estimated three per cent of adolescent boys use muscle enhancing
drugs (including steroids) to help achieve the ?ideal? body."
Steven Gregor,  The man behind the mask: male body image
dissatisfaction InPsych,
http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/12.2_65.asp
admagic-ga rated this answer:4 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $10.00
Thank you!  That was great!

Comments  
Subject: Re: 20 or so Self Esteem Facts, Figures, and Statistics for Girls and Boys
From: politicalguru-ga on 14 Aug 2006 07:43 PDT
 
Thank you for the rating and the tip!

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