Articles by Renee Martin

❖ One of the highest risk factors for depression is being a girl. By age 15 girls are twice as likely as boys to experience depression. Girls who live in the suburbs are 3 times as likely to experience depression.

❖ Depression often manifests itself in a nagging feeling of self- condemnation or worthlessness.

❖ Mild depression in girls is often caused by interpersonal conflict, gender role expectations or even relational problems.

❖ Depressed girls are also at risk for anxiety, eating disorders, academic failure and interpersonal relationship problems.

❖ Between 20 and 40% of adolescent girls with major depression develop bipolar disorder within 5 years.

❖ As many as seven percent of teen girls, who develop major depression, will commit suicide.

❖ Suicide is the third leading cause of death in girls ages 15-19 and the fourth leading cause of death in girls ages 10-14.

❖ Girls are two to four times as likely to attempt suicide.

❖ Being overweight, a victim of sexual assault, inclined to fight, and frequently getting drunk are other factors that increase a girl’s thoughts of suicide.

❖ As a whole, girls who try or threaten to commit suicide do so as a plea to be loved and to have deeper relationships. It is a demand to be noticed. They often do not follow through because they still hold some hope. Ignoring their behavior can cause them to lose that hope and ultimately take their lives.

❖ Alco-pops (flavored alcohol beverages) like Sky Blue, Smirnoff Ice, Frozen Paradise and Bacardi Ice are marketed towards adolescent girls and are known as “gateway” beverages.

❖ One third of all teen girls over 12 have tried flavored alcoholic drinks.

❖ One in four admits to driving home after drinking or riding with someone who had been drinking, and one in six admits to being sexually active after drinking.

❖ On average, girls have their first drink at 13 years old.

❖ An estimated 4.5 million girls ages 12-17 reported consuming alcohol. (2004)

❖ Girls who abuse alcohol are 11 times more likely to have an eating disorder.

❖ Teenage girls who are heavy drinkers are 5 times more likely to engage in sexual intercourse, and one third less likely to use condoms, which can result in pregnancy and STD’s.

❖ Alcohol is involved in up to two thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes among



❖ Dating in mid-adolescents (under 17) is often for three reasons: status, recreation and self-esteem reasons. Girls who date for affirmation and affection often will alter their values and personality to be accepted by the guy to whom she is attracted.

❖ Dating patterns have changed and the term “hooking up” and “friends with benefits” has become prevalent in the adolescent community. Hook- ups and Friends with Benefits relationships are void of every “need” girls seek in relationships and can have long term consequences in future relationships.

❖ Girls ages 15 to 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence. Girls who have been in abusive relationships are four times more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol, six times more likely to become pregnant and eight times more likely to attempt suicide.

❖ Dating violence rates are higher for girls who have had sex at an early age. Seventy percent of girls who had sex before age 13 report they had sex against their will.

❖ Eighty two percent of rape victims say they are permanently changed.

❖ One and a half million women encounter sexual or physical violence from their partners each year.

❖ Nearly one third of adolescent girls reports being physically or psychologically abused by their dating partners.

❖ In 2002 the CDC did a study which showed that 10% of girls ages 13 and under, 26% of 15 year olds, 40% of 16 year olds, 49% of 17 year olds and 70% of 18 year olds reported having vaginal intercourse. It was also reported that 40% of girls who had sex before they were 15, were forced.

❖ Sexual abuse has increased significantly for girls ages 10-14.

❖ It is estimated that 20% of all women have been sexually abused by the age of 18.

❖ About 1.1 million adolescent girls become pregnant each year. Thirty five to 40 % of these abort, 10- 14% have miscarriages, 5% put their children up for adoption and 45 % raise their children alone or with their extended family.

❖ Females between 16 and 21 years old have a 50% higher rate of HIV than males in that age group.

❖ Of the 3 million new Chlamydia cases diagnosed each year about half are girls ages 15 to 19. The highest rate for gonorrhea is in girls ages 15-19.

❖ Many girls see oral and anal sex as safe alternatives to intercourse.

❖ Girls require a higher degree of nurturing in their friendships than guys. Often if that attention is not received, girls seek high risk friendships. Relational aggression among girls, cliques, friends with benefits and gangs are all examples of high risk friendships.

❖ If a girl’s friends are sexually active, she is more likely to be sexually active.

❖ One third of all early adolescent gang members are female.

❖ The need for acceptance, approval, and belonging is vital during the teen years. Teens, who feel isolated or rejected by their peers and family, are more likely to engage in risky behaviors in order to “fit in” with a group.

❖ Some experts believe that teenage girls frequently enter into sexual relationships when they are seeking acceptance, approval, and love.

❖ Girls who use socially “accepted” drugs like alcohol and tobacco tend to do so in groups. Girls who use illegal drugs are more likely to be introduced to them by boys, often while on dates.

❖ Rand Corporation released a study that found heavy exposure to sexual content on TV shows is strongly related to a teenagers’ initiation into intercourse or their progression to more advanced sexual activities.

❖ Studies show that teens who listen to sexually explicit music or watch sexual movies or videos were almost twice as likely to start having sex within the next two years, compared to those who listen to little or no sexually explicit media.

❖ Most teenage girls admit that they have learned about sex or gotten ideas from what they heard in music lyrics, seen on television and in movies, and seen on the Internet.

❖ Advertisers in fashion magazines seek to create a level of dissatisfaction with girls’ body image so their product will be bought to attain body image satisfaction.

❖ Sixty two percent of teenage girls say they are trying to lose weight. Forty percent of girls in 1st -5th grade report that they want to lose weight. Girls as young as 7, have been identified with eating disorders.

❖ Teenagers underwent nearly a quarter million cosmetic procedures in 2004.

❖ Girls who weekly read fashion magazines are more likely to develop eating disorders. Sixty nine percent of girls who read those magazines say that the way the models look impacts their idea of how the perfect female body should look.

❖ Self -Injury is a growing phenomenon among adolescent girls. This is when a girl inflicts physical harm on herself, usually with the intention of easing her mental or emotional state. Those who are self-injurers are not trying to commit suicide.

❖ Self- Injury includes cutting or burning of one’s skin, intentional bruising, scratching, and interfering with wounds. In extreme instances self-injurers break bones, amputate their own digits, eat harmful substances or inject their bodies with toxins.

❖ Some of the risk factors for self- injury include difficulties with impulse control, eating behaviors, substance abuse, childhood illness, low capacity to form and sustain stable relationships, fear of change, low self- esteem and childhood trauma.