Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 Author: Steve Johnson - Mercury News Staff Writer GIRLS STILL TRAIL BOYS ON MANY FRONTS Discouraging messages, social barriers stand in their way, report says Analyzing data from more than 200 studies, a largely downbeat report released Tuesday found that girls continue to be worse off than boys in a number of important ways. And where they have narrowed the gap -- such as in smoking and arrest rates - -- the trend isn't always encouraging. Girls are doing better in math and having fewer babies than they used to, according to the study by the National Council for Research on Women. But girls are twice as likely as boys to be depressed, have less access to sports programs, suffer more from violent crime and wind up poor more often when they drop out of school, the study said. ``The bottom line really is that with support from adults and with adequate resources, girls can absolutely grow up healthy, strong and competent,'' said report author Lynn Phillips, a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York. ``But there are a number of social barriers and negative messages that stand in their way.'' Reason for optimism ``The Girls Report: What We Know and Need to Know about Growing Up Female,'' found some reason for optimism. ``In school, girls continue to do well in reading and language, and their math achievement now almost matches that of boys,'' it said. ``The teen birthrate has declined steadily since 1992, after rising by 25 percent between 1986 and 1991, and . . . more teens appear to be using contraception than ever before.'' But the report by the council, an alliance of 77 university and other research centers across the country, said progress is countered by other social and economic measures of the relative well-being of girls. Among the areas of concern: Health. About 30 percent of adolescent girls have thought about suicide, compared with 18 percent of boys, the report said, and girls and women also account for 90 percent of eating disorders. The percentage of eighth-grade girls who smoke rose from 13 percent in 1991 to 21 percent five years later, it said, and girls over 12 now are as likely to use alcohol and drugs as are boys. Violence. Girls are victims of crimes more often than boys, the report said, and the rate of arrest for violent crimes is rising faster for girls. Moreover, it said, ``Girls are often ignored in the juvenile-justice system, frequently being placed in programs and facilities intended for boys.'' Education. Although girls and boys perform about the same in math and science through eighth grade, girls tend to fall behind in science by 12th grade, it said. Female dropouts are also more likely than male dropouts to live in poverty, it said, and women are less likely than men to earn doctorate degrees. Moreover, it said, ``the percentage of high school sophomore girls who participated on athletic teams fell between 1980 and 1990.'' No surprises Some of these findings -- particularly the ones that show girls trailing educationally -- don't surprise Kirsten Berzon of Girl Incorporated of Alameda County, a San Leandro-based group that promotes equality between the sexes. She said girls are taught from their earliest years, often by parents, to believe they are less capable than boys. ``I just think it's ingrained'' in society, she said, noting that in many schools, ``girls don't speak out, they get interrupted, they get teased.'' Still, weighing the relative status of boys and girls largely depends on the kind of data that is compared, said David Arredondo, medical director at Eastfield Ming Quong of Campbell, which offers crisis intervention and counseling. Although girls may be more likely to ponder suicide, boys are more likely to actually commit it, he said. The rate of homicide and incarceration among boys also greatly exceeds that for girls. And while a roughly equal percentage of boys and girls sample drugs and alcohol, he said, boys make up a disproportionate share of drug addicts. The influence of gender in some social problems also can be clouded by other factors, said Michelle Swalley of the Santa Clara County Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Center. African-American and Latino children account for a disproportionate share of the county's abuse and neglect cases, she noted, ``so I think ethnic disparity is something to be concerned about.'' - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)