Besides lagging behind girls in academic performance, boys struggle more than girls do with a variety of mental-health issues, according to a report in the December issue of the journal Gender Issues.
Studies already show that boys tend to get lower grades and test scores than girls do and attend college at lower rates. In her new study, however, University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Judith Kleinfeld argues that boys also have higher rates of suicide, conduct disorders, emotional disturbance, premature death, and juvenile delinquency than girls do.
In a second study published in the same journal, Ms. Kleinfeld shares thoughts on the gender gap in college-attendance rates from focus-group interviews with 99 Alaska high school seniors.
There is neither a “boys crisis” nor a “girls crisis,” Ms. Kleinfeld contends. “Rather, boys and girls suffer from different types of characteristic problems.”
