The drop in confidence is common with all sexes during puberty, according to Jane Mendle, an associate professor of psychology at Cornell University. Mendle, which studies the effects that puberty has on the mental health of adolescents, especially girls, also said that girls have a stronger drop in self -esteem during puberty.
Definition of puberty
Puberty is not as easily defined as most might think, and on average, it is a four -year process.
“Puberty is a transformative and involves a change in almost all areas of life,” said Mendle. Although the markers of puberty for girls often start with physical changes and end with the menarche – the first menstrual cycle – there are also major changes in behavior, emotions and social relations, she continued.
Girls who go through puberty earlier than their peers run an increased risk of mental health problems and, on average, girls start puberty earlier than in previous decades. It is not uncommon now that the first stages of puberty are starting at the age of 9 and that the last stages of puberty are starting a little under 12.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the average timing of puberty now looks like what we are talking about the early pubertal calendar, let’s say, the 1970s or the early 1980s,” she said.
One of the reasons why previous puberty can be difficult is that “physical development, cognitive development and emotional development do not necessarily occur in synchrony,” said Mendle. “When a child begins to show obvious signs of physical development, he will find his world to change. They will be treated differently by other people, and they tend to be granted more autonomy,” said Mendle.
Because puberty implies important social changes, girls who go through puberty earlier “may find it difficult to maintain friendships with friends who have not developed at similar prices,” said Mendle. “Even if puberty is defined by its biological characteristics, I think that as a social transition fundamentally and the context in which children experience it are really formative for the way it takes place,” she continued.
Puberty and social media
Young people are now increasingly warned in technology and have more access to digital technologies compared to the front generations. In the past, young girls are curious about puberty and the changes that accompany that he could have gone to their mother or a older sister to obtain advice, said Mendle, but now they could be more interested in Tiktok and the rules for monitoring rules.
In addition to a decrease in confidence, the youngest group interviewed by Rox has also seen the highest increase in the use of social media. In the 2023 report, 95% of 5th and 6th year girls said they used social media, and 46% of those who use social media spent more than six hours a day on these platforms – against only 9% in 2017. Other surveys on the use of social media for adolescents demonstrate similar levels of use.
According to the ROX 2023 girl index, the use of social media has a negative impact on girls’ confidence, sleep quality and the ability to concentrate in school.
Despite these strong correlations between increased use of social media in adolescent girls and a decrease in confidence, Hinkelman said it was important to remember that this does not imply causality. “I think that (social media) can amplify some of the existing challenges that occur more for girls,” she said.
Hinkelman noted that, because puberty and access to information and technology occur earlier, Rox sees challenges that historically affected girls at a more advanced age affecting younger and younger girls. “It’s a bit like they were getting older, younger,” she said.
Impact in schools
The effects of the drop in mental health of girls and the increase in factors for using social media in a post-pandemic educational landscape that puts the rupture of educators, said Hinkelman.
Chelsea Tabor, a school counselor, said her students were super aware of the permanence of their online footprint. Although they are counting on social media to connect with friends and maintain relationships, they are also worried about conflicts because everything they publish online can be a screenshot and shared with involuntary recipients, Tabor said.
This means that this behavior and lack of online confidentiality could discourage girls from having vulnerable conversations when they need it, she said.
In previous years, Tabor has done an exercise with his students as part of their social media hygiene practice. She encourages girls to look at their social media flows and identify the articles that make them feel inadequate or negative. Tabor then suggests that they do not follow these accounts.
Adult and school support for girls
The ROX 2023 girls index revealed that two thirds of all parents rarely monitor or never monitor social media by their children.
According to Hinkelman, it is important to invest in adult education who influence the lives of girls because “being ten years today is really different from what it was 20 or 30 years ago”. Regarding support, the girls interviewed said they needed adults in their lives to listen to them without judgment, said Hinkelman.
Puberty can be an insulating experience, so parents must ensure that their children know that everyone is publishing a form of puberty, but a person’s experience may not be the same as that of someone else.
According to Mendle, research shows that the girls who know what to expect with regard to puberty and the rules experience less distress after having their first period. According to Mendle, normalize conversations on conversations over periods and offer children to ask questions.
While social media and the Internet are useful tools to collect information on periods, girls continue to point out that their parents are the people on which they count most for their information. “But it is undeniable that children today sail in a very, very socially and technological world that when a large part of the basic research on puberty was finished for the first time,” said Mendle. Parents can offer to search online information over periods and puberty with their children to help them determine precise and reliable resources.
Asking questions is a normal part of puberty, said Mendle, but young people are not as informed as they should be with regard to this transitional life experience. It is important that adults are aware of the impacts that the school environment can have on the experience of a student’s puberty, she continued. Reminding children that puberty is not only a physical transition, but can also affect relationships and friendships can help students sail better in school parameters.
Self-continuity throughout puberty
When children go through puberty, they often think that everything is entirely different in their lives. And while children are going through change, there are a lot of things that remain the same. According to Mendle, young people must be informed of self -continuity in all puberty – the idea that they are the same person before, during and after. The practice of self-contract is “demonstrated that it is associated with the buffer memory of the psychological impact of puberty,” said Mendle.
Children may need help to connect the wires of their pre- and post-pubère ego, Mindle continued. Parents can help connect these sons by talking to their children similarities and differences between school circles during this four -year transition.
