A new study reveals that girls in juvenile detention centers face surprisingly different psychological issues than average teen girls and, in some ways, more severe than problems incarcerated boys.
In a four-state survey, researchers found that girls are twice as likely as boys to be aggressive, and just as likely as boys to have problems with alcohol or drug use findings that surprised psychologist Elizabeth Cauffman, who has worked for years with troubled teens in California and Pennsylvania.
the psychological issues we found with girls in detention centers are nothing like what we expected not compared to boys in juvenile hall, not compared to average girls in the community, said Cauffman, associate professor of psychology and social behavior at UC Irvine.Girls in the correctional system are just different.
The study appears in the July issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.
For the study, researchers gave psychological evaluations to more then 800 teens and then compared the results of teens in juvenile detention facilities to those who had never been incarcerated but shared similar backgrounds, race and socioeconomic status.
Psychologists know that in general, teen girls are more likely to internalize problems while boys act out through yelling or hitting. But Cauffman found that among incarcerated youths, teen girls are twice as likely as the boys to externalize their problems through aggression. For example, they describe themselves as having a 'short fuse or admit a desire to get back at someone.
The researchers were also surprised to find that among the jailed teens, the girls are just as likely as the boys to report worrisome levels of alcohol and substance use. In the general population, teen girls report lower alcohol and substance use than boys.
In addition, incarcerated girls were two and a half times as likely as boys to describe levels of depression and anxiety that may require treatment, and twice as likely to have a number of somatic complaints, such as physical aches and pains.
Although fewer than 200 girls are detained by the California Youth Authority, Cauffman said the findings help validate concerns raised by staffers who work with the girls.