By Whitney Downard
Indiana Capital Chronicle
The average Hoosier girl encounters more bullying and sexual dating violence than her male peers, meaning her caregivers — from parents and schools up to lawmakers — need to better address mental health access barriers and reduce violence in communities, as shared in a new report from several youth coalitions.
In other areas, like academic achievement for reading, the state’s female youth outpaced boys.
The second annual Indiana Girl Report — from the Indiana Youth Institute, Girl Coalition of Indiana and Girl Scouts — seeks to evaluate the wellbeing of girls statewide, with breakdowns on differences between the state’s regions.
“The 2024 Indiana Girl Report is more than a collection of data,” said IYI President and CEO Tami Silverman in a statement. “It is an example of the foundational role data has in our collective work to care for and improve the lives of Indiana kids. We are proud to collaborate with Girl Co., who is dedicated to leveraging data for impactful change. Together, we are making strides towards a brighter future for every girl in Indiana.”
In contrast to last year’s version, the 2024 report focuses more explicitly on calls to action, or ways that families and stakeholders can improve wellbeing for Hoosier girls.
Some of the data comes from a national report on child well-being, which IYI breaks down to an Indiana level every year. Notably, Indiana ranked 24th for child well-being in 2023, only to fall to 27th earlier this year.
Just over 30% of female children between the ages of 6 and 17 don’t participate in organized activities or lessons after school or on the weekends — the highest nonparticipation rate among Indiana’s four neighboring states. Just one in ten, or 10.6%, female students reported being active for one hour a day each week, compared to one in four male students, or 27.8%.
Additionally, over 8,000 homeless girls were enrolled in schools during the 2022-2023 school year — a 10% increase from the previous year.
The report noted that not everyone felt they had a trusted adult in their lives. While most female students, nine girls in ten, felt they had an adult mentor at school, one in five said they didn’t feel they could ask their parents for help with personal issues. One in seven boys similarly felt unable to ask their parents for assistance.
Advocates also said that 17.2% of female high school students reportedly experienced sexual dating violence in the last year, while only 2.5% of their male counterparts could say the same.
Combined with an increase in bullying, both lumped under “interpersonal aggression,” the report dived into access to mental health supports for Hoosier girls.
“Given the higher rates at which girls experience interpersonal aggression — and gaps in their positive childhood experiences — it is no surprise that girls also report mental health challenges at twice the rate of boys,” the report read. “All adolescents should have access to mental health support, including through programs, interventions and mental health services in their schools and communities.”
Young women in middle school or high school were twice as likely as their male peers to report mental health issues and reported higher rates of substance use, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and over-the-counter drugs.
Indeed, young women are a growing share of mental health hospitalizations nationally, something the report connected with the growth of interpersonal aggression and overall declining adolescent mental health. Other compounding factors include: low household incomes, food insecurity, discrimination, immigration barriers and more.
“Generational poverty creates an entrenched feeling of hopelessness. A lot of challenges come up due to poverty, and girls especially don’t have support,” a Girl Coalition team member said in the report.
Despite these challenges, Hoosier girls were more likely to earn proficiency grades in English and reading, scoring higher grades than their male counterparts on the state’s IREAD-3 test and ILEARN assessment. However, boys scored better than girls on the math portion of the ILEARN assessment.
Proposed solutions
“We want to know why girls are experiencing these challenges, so we dug deeper. We found more research, we talked with practitioners, and most importantly, we talked to girls. Through these conversations, we heard, loud and clear, that girls are resilient,” said Mackenzie Pickerrell, the executive director of Girl Coalition in the report.
“They have many of the answers of what they need and want. They are pleading to be listened to by the adults in their lives. As caregivers and leaders, we must listen with empathy and then take action to ensure that the systems in Indiana are prioritizing their wellbeing, not only in the Statehouse but in healthcare and education.”
The report’s authors urged caregivers of Hoosier girls to engage in open, non-judgmental conversations and “nurture favorable social support structures,” which can include after-school programming, informal mentorships or joining a Girl Scout troop.
For the programming providers who might be coordinating those support structures, lessons should include mental health awareness, sexual harassment and dating violence prevention alongside bullying intervention — the same topics caregivers were counseled to discuss at home. Other topics to be discussed include: boosting self-esteem, teaching stress management and supporting leadership skills.
Schools, another support structure outside of the home, should also train teachers on addressing mental health concerns and “leverage trauma-informed practices” while reinforcing the core topics discussed above. However, the report acknowledges that Indiana falls far short of the recommended 1:250 ratio for social workers per student, stunting such programming. In 2023, Indiana had one social worker for every 2,786 students.
Lastly, state policymakers can invest in mental health programming at schools and in the community — increasing access for all Indiana residents — and implement policy decisions to reduce barriers related to economic status or racial disparities.
“Surrounding girls with supportive, trusted adults and creating safe spaces where all girls feel a sense of belonging are positive strategies that can interrupt negative cycles in areas we have defined as dimensions of wellness. We are actively listening to communities tell us about the systemic challenges that prevent girls from accessing positive youth development experiences like Girl Scouts. It is urgent to understand and address these barriers,” said six Girl Scout Council CEOs from around the state in a letter.
