A study commissioned by all four Girl Scout councils across the state concludes girls in Ohio are struggling with many challenges — depression, bullying, chronic absenteeism, sexual violence, and more — yet are resilient.
The councils gathered data and statistics from published works, and partnered with the University of Cincinnati Evaluation Services Center and The Center for Community Solutions to collect secondary data and create the report. The councils say it will help direct them, community organizations, and policymakers on future programing, funding and advocacy issues.
"[The report] looks at four different aspects of what the lived experience is for our girls across the entire state of Ohio, looking at academic health, physical health, social health and mental health of girls, and diving deeper. A lot of times when we look at youth data, we see one story, but we wanted to see, if you look at girl data, does it tell a different story?," says Aimée Sproles, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, which includes southwest Ohio. "And I think we found some things that are a little bit surprising."
Findings
The World Health Organization recommends kids get at least an hour of physical activity daily. The report finds only 16% of Ohio girls meet that threshold, compared to 25% for boys.
A data analysis shows the rate of high school girls who reported experiencing sexual dating violence went up to 18% in 2021, though rates of physical dating violence have decreased. The teen birth rate has also been on a steady decline since 2013.
Meanwhile, 56% of girls in grades 9-12 reported feeling sad or hopeless in 2021, and 32% said they seriously considered attempting suicide while 15% reported a suicide attempt.
Thirty-nine percent of middle school girls and 28% of high school girls in Ohio said they were bullied online, and bullying in general increased for girls in both age groups. Twenty-seven percent of girls were chronically absent from school.
"Those statistics are really high and shocking," Sproles says. "And what I've shared with some others is, that may be shocking for us to hear, but it's even harder for girls to live through. So when we think about what they're experiencing every day, that's even more devastating for them."
On the upside, 91% graduated from high school in 2022-23, and the number of girls attending public universities is high. The data suggests more girls are going into STEM career fields as well.
"That's the other part of the story of what we saw: girls are resilient," says Sproles. "They're graduating from high school at a much higher rate than boys. They're entering college at a higher rate than boys, and as they're going into college, even more and more girls are interested in STEM careers and STEM degrees, which is great because we've been so focused on that for so long."
Recommendations
The report recommends:
- increasing girls' access to activities and supportive adults that will help build confidence and self-esteem
- addressing issues like bullying and dating violence through prevention and support
- providing access to mental health resources
- making sure adults working with girls understand the data and the experiences girls are living with
"We recommend that girls recognize that they have the ability to take action for themselves," Sproles adds. "What does that look like for a girl? It looks like thinking about and discovering what their strengths are and really developing those strengths so that [they] have the confidence as a young woman, to be resilient and to really focus on the things that help bring [them] life."
That includes, she says, encouraging girls to be upstanders and stand up for each other. It could also mean participating in groups or activities that develop character and confidence.
Suicide is a public health crisis. If you or anyone you know is in crisis, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988. More information can be found here.
