Young Women: More Sensitive and More Self-Critical than Young Men

Abstract

In a special area of research entitled "Prevention and intervention in childhood and youth," sponsored by the German Research Society, the research project Stress Problems of Youth in Different Social Situations investigates how young people respond to the demands of everyday life in their family, school, leisure time, groups of friends, and occupations in a study that was designed to cover a total of six years. This research was directed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists including psychologists, pedagogues, and social scientists. The research team has so far carried out interviews with 1,700 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 14 over a period of four years. In addition, there were 100 interviews on a detailed inventory of the life situation and health situation of youth. The purpose of these research studies was to find why a growing minority of young people experience difficulties in coping with daily demands in private life, school, and vocational training. The now demonstrated high number of mental, physical, and social stress symptoms shows that many young people are increasingly experiencing problems in this regard. Disorders in perception and achievement, poor concentration, nervousness, aggressiveness, and drug consumption, as well as psychosomatic disorders, are examples (see Engel and Hurrelmann, 1989; Hurrelmann and Lösel, 1990; Pädagogik, no. 12, 1989, Drogen und Schule and no. 3, 1991, Gesundheitserziehung).