Karla A. Henderson, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Leisure Studies and Recreation Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kat King is a graduate assistant in the same program. Mailing Address: Leisure Studies and Recreation Administration, CB #3185 Evergreen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3185. Phone: 919-962-1222, Fax: 919-962-1223, Email: karla@email.unc.edu. The inspiration for this article was made possible through collaboration with the At-Risk Youth Recreation Consortium funded partially with a subcontract with Texas A & M University through the National Recreation and Park Association. A version of this paper was presented at the 1998 Prevention through Recreation Services School sponsored by NRPA, Texas A & M University, and the City of Fort Worth.
Executive Summary
The purpose of this article is to share current literature about adolescent girls and the potential for recreation programming. Using the assumption that something happens to girls at the age of adolescence from which they spend years trying to recover, we offer some ways that recreation programmers might address these challenges. The goal of this programming is positive youth development. Almost all girls growing up in our society today have to address three critical issues: social contradictions, body changes, and sexuality. Recreation programming may have some implications for coming to grips with these issues and turning them into positive youth development. Those girls who are not able to successfully negotiate these challenges chance becoming high risk individuals. Unfortunately, a risk behavior may compromise psychosocial issues of successful adolescent development, and the risk behaviors that disproportionally affect girls are often not taken into consideration. Some of the behaviors more salient for girls that may make them high risk include depression, eating disorders, and pre or posttraumatic stress reactions to sexual or physical assaults. Pipher (1994) indicated that girls can be "saved" by a good school, a good teacher, and/or a meaningful activity. Recreation programmers can provide that meaningful activity if the developmental needs of girls are taken into account. In general, girls need causes and interests larger than their own lives to get beyond the societal expectations that may unconsciously them. Recreation can be a means for girls to resist negative societal messages, fear of body changes, and lack of perceived control in their lives. When teens attempt to move beyond their T.V. sets, they often have few places where they are welcome. We need places for girls to go--ball fields, gyms, community centers, halls, and places to play music, and "hang out" with friends. They need no-cost, informally supervised places where they can be together to talk, dance, and play. The challenges for recreation providers include increasing visibility, providing information effectively, staffing with positive role models, adopting policies of inclusion, advocacy, and giving youth chances to exert leadership in developing a sense of control over their leisure. Growing up female in the millennium is a challenge that recreation programmers must address.
Keywords: Girls, adolescence, prevention, youth-at-risk, community, self-esteem
Although great advances have been made, life is not necessarily easier for many young people today than it was when the baby boomers were growing up. The 1960s were a time for idealism and optimism; these feelings are not as omnipresent in the 1990s. The women's movement supposedly made life equal for boys and girls, but many contradictions still exist. Hochschild (1989) called what has happened to women a "stalled revolution." Pipher (1994) in her best-selling highly documented book, Reviving Ophelia, also described the changes in the lives of girls today. For example, the issues that female baby boomers struggled with as college students are now ones that early adolescents address--should I have sex, drink, smoke, hang out with bad company?
Recent research by the American Association of University Women (AAUW, 1991) entitled, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America points to the ways that many girls lose self-esteem and confidence during adolescence. These changes are noteworthy because recreation professionals may need a different context to understand girls’ lives today compared to the past if we want to play a role in their positive development. Further, we cannot assume that the risk issues that boys face are the same for all girls.
The phases of research about girls and women (i.e., invisibility, gender differences, feminist scholarship, and gender inclusive research) have been discussed elsewhere (Henderson, 1994). Most of the research has occurred in the past 25 years because prior to that time, women's lives were often invisible. Psychology has a long history of ignoring adolescent girls (Pipher, 1994). According to Gilligan (1982), many early theories of child development only considered male development. In addition, some youth have been excluded from studies unless labeled as "delinquent." Another phase of the literature focuses on gender differences with the male model of risk behavior generally compared to female ways of being. Although these studies have made girls visible in the literature, they have not always provided a new understanding of the experiences of being born female. The problem with this research is that the differences become the conclusions rather the starting point for understanding the experiences of either young males or females. A new phase of evolution in this research, often occurring concomitantly and as a reaction to the gender differences phase, is feminist research about the unique experiences of girls and women (e.g., AAUW, 1991; Orenstein, 1994; Pipher, 1994). These studies are particularly useful for understanding the way many girls grow up. The newest emerging phase relates to understanding the interface of gender and diversity and how together they effect girls' daily involvement and behavior. Researchers are beginning to examine how race, class, sexual orientation, and other characteristics may moderate the experiences of both girls and boys.
Although the world has changed radically in the last three decades, the developmental needs of teenage girls have changed little. All girls need loving adults, decent values, useful information, friends, physical safety, freedom to move about independently, respect for their uniqueness, and encouragement to grow (Pipher, 1994). Recent studies (e.g., AAUW, 1991; Gilligan, Ward, Taylor, & Bardige, 1988; Orenstein, 1994; Pipher, 1994) show that something dramatic can happen to girls in early adolescence. Unfortunately, what women lose at age ten, they spend years trying to regain. They become less whole and androgynous. They often metamorphose as quieter, less likely to express opinions, more careful with what they say and do, self-critical, worriers, and focused on being people-pleasers. They often lose their resiliency and optimism and become less curious and inclined to take risks. They frequently lose their assertive, energetic, and tomboyish personalities and become more deferential, self-critical, and depressed. Further, they often are less likely to play sports or plan to be President. They hide their intelligence. Once girls lose this authentic self, it may not reemerge for years. Pipher (1994) suggested that, for many women, "their preadolescent authenticity only returns with menopause" (p. 26).
Since most research on adolescence has addressed white male subjects, the particular challenges and influences in the lives of adolescent girls need further exploration. In adolescence, males come to focus on independence and competition while females embrace affiliation and relationships (Gilligan et al., 1988). Girls become aware of the lower status society places on relationship tending and higher status placed on autonomy and independence. Even girls who appear problem free have had to deal with issues of what Pipher (1994) described as "girl-hurting." Girls tend to experience a decline in self-esteem during early adolescence (AAUW, 1991) and low self-esteem correlates with low life satisfaction, loneliness, anxiety, resentment, irritability, and depression. The challenge to recreation programmers is to provide services that will help girls and young women keep their wholeness intact and flourish through positive youth development.
Risk Behaviors and Gender
Some controversy exists over how difficult adolescence is (Chubb, Fertman, & Ross, 1997). Casper, Belanoff, and Offer (1996) concluded that in contrast to popular belief, most investigators who have studied teenagers have found that on the whole they get along with their families, enjoy life, and successfully develop the skills necessary for transition into adulthood. According to Jessor (1992), however:
Large segments of our young people are growing up in circumstances of such limited resources and in contexts of such pervasive adversity that, for many of them, their health, their development, indeed, their lives as a whole are certain to be severely - and perhaps irretrievably - compromised (p.19).
Although every child and adolescent is potentially "at-risk" of not successfully transitioning into adulthood, certain environmental and behavioral factors place an individual at "higher risk." Environmental factors that place an individual at higher risk include low socioeconomic status, abuse, and neglect. Behavioral risk factors might include unhealthy eating, low self esteem, sedentariness, few perceived life choices, or substance abuse (Jessor, 1993).
Because girls are less prone to delinquent behavior and less likely to participate in violent crimes than boys does not mean that they are less "at-risk." Delinquency is on the rise for girls although often limited to less severe delinquent behaviors including running away, truancy, parental defiance, and shoplifting. Chesney-Lind and Shelden (1992) have offered that the traditionally lower number of female delinquents is due to reduced access to illegitimate means to misbehave and greater social disapproval of delinquent acts than their male counterparts. Traditionally girls are more likely to be confined to home and are under stricter supervision, thus limiting opportunities for delinquency. Girls are supposed to abide by stricter moral standards. A stronger sense of guilt and disapproval often accompanies deviant behavior among females.
If recreation programmers are to understand the issues of girls, we must examine ways girls and boys may differ. Girls and boys are not radically unlike each other, but they often have different experiences while growing up. Some of the problems in understanding girls is that they are expected to develop the same as boys, but as Gilligan (1982) suggested, girls often develop differently than boys. Pipher (1994) found that girls are confronted by major issues that may not be as salient for boys including physical development; girl-hurting "isms" such as sexism, capitalism, and lookism; and issues of distancing from parents when they need their support the most.
To understand how recreation can contribute to positive youth development, recreation programmers need to focus on "what is it like for girls?" Girls undergo a childhood and adolescence heavily colored by their gender. Girls and boys do not always have the same choices; they may share class and race but it is mediated by gender. Chesney-Lind & Shelden (1992) stated that "girls learn early to experience their gender as identity, as role, as rule, and ultimately as an institutional web of expectations that define women, especially young women, as subordinate to men" (p. 6). Therefore, Gilligan et al. (1988) found girls emerged from adolescence with a poor self-image, relatively low expectations from life, and much less confidence in themselves and their abilities than boys.
Although gender differences sometimes provide a useful context, great variability exists within gender categories. In other words, professionals must be careful in assuming that all boys and all girls are alike. Rhodes and Fischer (1993) found the assessment of gender-specific influences has been largely inadequate. Other factors in addition to gender alone mediate girls’ and boys’ experiences. For example, class issues are important for girls. For many working class girls, high school is the last opportunity to find a husband because after that the dominant standards such as dress, beauty, and academic achievement become illusive. For many middle class girls, college is their best opportunity to find a partner.
Race differences among girls are also of interest. The AAUW Study (1991) found that between the ages of nine and fifteen, the number of Latina girls who were "happy the way I am" dropped by 38%, compared with a 23% drop for white girls, and a 7% drop for black girls. Latina girls maintained a more negative body image, experienced higher levels of anxiety and depression, and were at a greater risk of attempting suicide than any other group of adolescents. Black girls and women, on the other hand, seem to be socialized to be independent, content with their body image, and self-sufficient. The contradiction for girls of color often lies in being unable to compete or be free from dominant societal images.
A Public Health Framework
A public health model currently exists (Figure 1) that may help us understand youth development and risk factors for girls and boys (Pittman, 1997). As shown in the model, the overall goal is positive youth development. All youth are capable of this development but along the way sometimes strategies aimed at primary prevention, high risk behaviors, and treatment are needed. An exploration of this model in terms of recreation services for adolescents will help us ascertain how community recreation programmers can address the issues of prevention and high risk so that all youth experience positive development as they mature.
The bottom level on the Public Health Model is treatment. When the risk factors in an adolescent’s life are assessed as a substantial health or social hazard, a need for treatment exists. Although these individuals are a concern, those in treatment may be beyond the scope of most community recreation professionals. Examples of situations requiring treatment-level services include prostitution, drug addictions, mental illness, sexual abuse, and gang membership. Research has shown that girls are in need of more treatment services than in the past (AAUW, 1991). For example, female gang members have turned more violent and dangerous. Researchers have typically described females as sex objects within gangs, but girls seem to be evolving to becoming perpetrators of violent crimes.
Providers of community recreation services have traditionally assumed positive youth development and therapeutic specialists have been part of a team to address treatment. A growing need exists for our profession to provide services that target the middle sections of the model: primary prevention and high risk. All young people are going to face problems which recreation professionals probably can not eliminate; but we can work with girls to promote positive development by addressing issues of prevention and risk. Caring adults, high expectations, and opportunities to participate are central elements of positive youth development. The challenge lies in ascertaining how primary prevention and high risk strategies may be applied to girls.
Girls and Issues of Primary Prevention
Several facets of primary prevention efforts might be undertaken by recreation professionals. More often it is the symptoms and not the problem that will attract the attention of others (Casper, Belanoff, & Offer, 1996). For example, school problems, irritability, and changes in eating habits will be noted rather than the depressed mood that causes the symptoms. Almost all girls growing up in our society today have to address three critical issues: social contradictions, body changes, and sexuality. Successful youth development requires coming to grips with these issues and turning them into positive outcomes. Those individuals who are not able to successfully negotiate these challenges face greater risks to achieving positive youth development.
Social Contradictions
Theories of boys’ delinquency cannot be ignored, but an uncritical grounding of applications to girls based on male behavior may create social contradictions. Adolescent development often is seen as the male model of separation-individuation, i.e., as a journey toward increasingly autonomous self. Girls become delinquent when they cannot maintain positive relationships with family or with peers. Girls having fewer problems may also have stronger family bonds.
Feminism has not encouraged more delinquency, although a concern is evident if equality means that girls think they should be like boys. Feminism may contribute to primary prevention as girls and women become more career oriented. Girls, however, can also sense the contradictions in feminism. One problem is that feminism is theoretical rather than a reality. Although some women have high powered jobs, most women work hard for low wages and do most of the second shift work. Many girls do not see examples of involvement in leisure and recreation among women in the work force. The lip service paid to equality makes the reality of discrimination even more confusing (Pipher, 1994). School teachers typically treat girls differently with boys more likely to receive the teacher's attention (AAUW, 1991). Females often have a more external locus of control and think that anything that happens to them is the result of chance, fate, luck, or powerful others.
Body Changes
Social contradictions and body changes are integrally related. For girls in the American culture, the rules are to be attractive, be a lady, be unselfish and of service, make relationships work, and to be competent without complaint (Pipher, 1994). When girls lose track of their true selves, they become vulnerable to other problems. The rules about attractiveness, however, have changed over time. In 1951 Miss Sweden was 5'7" and 151 pounds. In 1983 she was 5'9" and 109 pounds. Many girls are obsessed with their appearance, although great diversity exists across cultures. Healthy adjustment may not be the same in all cultures or among all groups of adolescents. For example, American standards of physical beauty are still primarily a standard of white features and body types. The difficulties that girls of color have in fitting these standards may be both a blessing and a curse.
The changing body may be one of the most difficult aspects for girls to negotiate. Boys going through puberty early gain increased status and self-esteem among peers. Girls, however, who commence puberty earlier than their peers often deal with humiliation and uncertainty. Zilbach (1993) suggested that the development of breasts is like the development of another organ. Getting a bra is a right of passage. Getting a jock strap occurs much earlier for males and boys already have penises. Further, the development of breasts is of interest to both young males and females so girls are even more aware of what this physical development means. Dubas & Petersen (1993) studied the effects of pubertal timing and the adjustment difficulties of early and late bloomers. They found that although there are adjustment difficulties and expectations surrounding this development, generally these effects are small. For a young woman going through puberty, the effects often are not perceived as small.
Thus, the changing body provides a powerful stimulus to self and others; an ongoing interplay exists between body growth and ego growth (Rosenbaum, 1993). The body is a reflection of conflict, shame, and inadequacy as well as pride and pleasure. Knowing one’s body and having control over it may be an important element of primary prevention. Several researchers (e.g., AAUW, 1991; President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 1997; Rosenbaum, 1993) have found that girls who were active in sports or who danced regularly generally felt better about their bodies and had higher self-esteem. Unfortunately, many girls drop out of sports and fitness activities when they reach adolescence at the time when those activities likely would have significant benefit.
Sexuality
Puberty results in finding one’s sexuality as well as finding out what sexuality means. Sexual issues include coming to grips with one's own sexuality, defining a sexual self, making sexual choices, and learning to enjoy physical intimacy. At this time, issues of potential sexual assault also emerge. For girls, fears about sex include judgment of their bodies, getting pregnant, contracting a sexual disease, getting a bad reputation, and the fact that ugly words are used to describe sex that relate to aggression more than love. For girls, a double standard of pressure to have sex on Saturday followed by the risk of being called a slut on Monday exists. Despite reputation issues, more girls are more sexually active with more partners than ever before (Pipher, 1994). The number of girls who have had sex is double what it was 25 years ago. Addressing primary prevention means that girls ought to understand their sexuality and what it means. Although sex can be highly enjoyable, girls also must accept the possible consequences associated with sexual expression.
Sexuality also relates to sexual identity. Grossman (1997) found that many lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth adjust positively to their sexuality, but some are unable to cope and become at-risk. Gay, lesbian, or bisexual youth may respond by denying their feelings, attempting to change the feelings, or rationalizing the feelings as part of a phase. Unfortunately, gay and lesbian youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Emotional distress, low self-esteem, condemnation, and rejection may lead some lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth to use and abuse alcohol and other drugs. If young people do not feel they fit in, they may not be involved with school or community recreation opportunities.
Girls and Issues of High Risk
Even when issues of primary prevention are addressed related to social contradictions, changing body, and sexuality, some young women may still exhibit high risk behaviors. Jessor (1992) suggested that the concept of risk relates to adverse outcomes associated with morbidity and mortality. The risk behaviors of teens are often functional, purposive, instrumental, and central to normal adolescent development (e.g., drinking or risky driving might gain peer acceptance and respect and be a way to establish autonomy). Unfortunately, risk behaviors have the potential to compromise successful adolescent development. Often the risk behaviors that disproportionally affect girls are not considered. The behaviors more salient for girls that may make them high risk include depression, eating disorders, and pre or posttraumatic stress reactions to sexual or physical assaults.
Depression
Twenty percent of girls in the United States display behaviors linked to some type of psychological risk disturbance (Pipher, 1994). Girls consistently report more psychological distress than boys. One reason for this distress is not hormones per se, but the fact that in our society girls often develop a more negative self-image than boys. Oversocialization is evidenced by girls being more concerned with popularity, more self-conscious, and less satisfied with their appearance. Boys express their problems in a more external way and girls tend to be more "internal" with significantly more somatic complaints and more frequent visits to health care professionals. Boys often have anger and tension as primary symptoms while girls have sadness and irritation.
Casper, Belanoff, and Offer (1996) found that female adolescents, regardless of race, reported significantly higher levels of emotional distress, in particular depressed mood and anxiety, than did male adolescents. Adult women suffer from both depressive affect and major clinical depression more often than men, and women on average cope less effectively with adversity than men. For many women, the first symptoms of depression occurred in adolescence. Individuals learn at an early age to express their psychological distress in gender-appropriate ways. Women and girls are likely to resort to emotion-focused ways of handling difficult situations such as crying, and tend to be less solution-focused. One reason may be that many girls become less active, less self-confident, and may have lower self-esteem. Another reason is that the choice of coping strategy depends on situational factors. Women and girls tend to ruminate in their emotions rather than seek active or distracting coping mechanisms (Hanninen & Aro, 1996). In addition, coping can be functional or dysfunctional. Girls and women are more likely to use dysfunctional coping techniques such as self-blame, venting anger on others, seeking comfort in sweets, and binge or "closet" drinking. Many girls and women, however, also handle life’s problems positively by seeking social support.
Eating Disorders
Because of the emphasis society places on body and body image, eating disorders are likely to occur among some girls. Anorexia and bulimia are presumed to be disorders primarily of the white, middle-to-upper class. Eating disorders are often a result of and protest against the intense cultural pressure that young women feel to be thin and beautiful. Eating disorders result in a high fatality rate for adolescent girls (Hobbs & Johnson, 1996). The idea exists that if thin is good, then very thin is very good. Further, a subtle message in our society suggests that if a girl takes up a small amount of space, she will not get in the way (Pipher, 1994). This attitude tends to reinforce the lowered position of women. Further, compulsive eaters have learned to use food as a drug that medicates away emotional pain.
By age 18, more than 50 percent of girls perceive themselves as too fat despite having normal weight. Many reasons exist for the pressure to be thin (Pipher, 1994). First, we have moved from a community of primary relationships in which people know each other to secondary relationships where we see appearance as the only dimension to assess others. Second, the omnipresent media portray ideal women as thin. Even as women get heavier, the models are still thin. Girls are terrified about being fat because it means being left out, scorned, and vilified (Pipher, 1994). Dieting and weight loss are common in males and females because a slender body is perceived as a way to obtain power, control, and success. Unfortunately even for some girls who are typically high achievers and good students, anorexia may be a problem.
Pre or Posttraumatic Stress Reactions
The potential for sexual assault keeps almost all girls and women in a state of fear about men. Fear of sexual assault or recovery from it means that girls are taught early that they must constantly be vigilant. Rape effects young women as they become posttraumatic stress victims. Schafran (1996) stressed that rape and sexual assault profoundly affect the psychological and physical health of survivors. Twenty percent or more of the US women and 10% of men have been sexually abused in childhood. Almost one third (32%) of all female rapes occur between the ages of 11-17 years. Pipher (1994) described a report by AAUW that found 70% of girls experienced sexual harassment and 50% had experienced unwanted touching. Girls report fear of being home alone, driving, and going to theaters or pools. They lose confidence in the ability to navigate in the world. Without the fear, they may place themselves in a situation of extraordinary risk.
Implications for Recreation Programming
Considering what we know about girls, then, what are the implications for recreation programming? In the last five years, we have seen a proliferation of discussion about primary prevention programs for high risk youth (e.g., Caldwell & Smith, 1995; Scott, Witt, & Foss, 1996; Witt & Crompton, 1996; 1997). The needs of high risk youth are probably no different from any youth, but this type of programming requires that we become more aware of the needs of individuals, and especially how the experiences of girls might be somewhat different from that of boys. Pawelko and Magafas (1997), in quoting from the Carnegie Council Report on Adolescent Development, found that what adolescents want from their communities is involvement or contact with trusted adults, more opportunities to serve the community, safe places, attractive alternatives to gangs, and opportunities to avoid loneliness. Pipher (1994) indicated that girls can be saved by a good school, a good teacher, and/or a meaningful activity. In general, girls need causes and interests larger than their own lives to get beyond the societal expectations that may unconsciously restrict them. Recreation can be a means for girls to resist the societal messages, fear of body changes, and lack of perceived control in their lives.
Although many social institutions have a role to play in the lives of adolescent girls, recreation organizations can offer support and opportunities. Girls need to increase their authenticity, become open to new experiences, think flexibly, and realistically appraise their environment. Although Grossman (1997) was referring to gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth, all programmers need to focus on how to make recreation settings inclusive, non-threatening and supportive social environments and educational programs aimed at reducing the tide of fear related to discrimination, stigmatization, or prejudice that adolescents face. At the very least, recreation programmers must assure that they are not contributing to increasing problems faced by girls. Recreation opportunities offer the chance for girls and boys to resist forces that would break their spirits. For example, positive youth development may mean helping girls to learn how to fight off rapists and kidnappers and teaching boys not to be the perpetrators.
Leisure as a form of identity and recreation for youth can be a way to help adolescents learn who they through leisure engagements that result in meaningful developmental outcomes (Pawelko & Magafas, 1993). Programmers may need to offer programs like sports and arts that focus on providing a sense of belonging contrasted to competition. Girls seem to move away from sports when they reach adolescence but this change may not be due to a disinterest in sports as much as the way those sports and physical activities are presented. The AAUW (1991) study found that when sports are coed, girls’ confidence in their athletic ability plummets. Therefore, programmers need to examine how activities are conducted. Athletics can be protective and emotionally healthy at a time in girls’ lives when they need to feel competence. Through physical activity, girls can see their bodies as functional not decorative; sports also can develop discipline, cooperation, and how to handle stress and pressure. These outcomes are essential for anyone’s future mental health.
Implications for Research and Evaluation
Considering what we already know from experience and the literature, we are exploring issues surrounding how to measure and evaluate the impact of recreation programs in the lives of girls. As researchers and evaluators we need to understand all that we can about young people by reading teen magazines and seeing their world. We may need to go where teens are and "hang out" with them rather than expecting them to come to us. Pipher (1994) suggested, however, that adolescent girls are secretive with adults and full of contradictions, thus making their lives more difficult to study. Much is happening internally that is not communicated on the surface. Subtly many girls are realizing that men have the power and that their own power comes from consenting to become submissive adored objects. At the same time, the message to young people in our society is that you can be whatever you want to be. These contradictions are not easily verbalized. However, they should not prevent trying to evaluate the impact of recreation programs based on all that we know about young people.
Further, if we are going to understand at-risk or high risk youth we also have to study those boys and girls who seem to be developing positively. Studying more than deviance is necessary. We need to pay attention to how programs work and why they work. Further, the issue of "dosage" is important and, to date, researchers in recreation have not adequately examined this notion. How much "recreation" is needed to make a difference? Once a week, every day, or once a year? Similarly, many youth opportunities may lead to positive youth development, of which recreation is but one component. We need to examine how what is done in recreation may complement other opportunities in young people’s lives.
An understanding of adolescent girls may require moving outside traditional research methods. Jessor (1993) advocated for a decline in attachment to positivist epistemology. It is logically untenable. The use of objectively observable and operationally definable phenomena imposes severe limitations on the subject matter of studying young people. For now, the realization of subjectivity and a renewed interest in context, setting and place may move our research forward.
If our research and evaluation is to be meaningful we must also use and develop theory-oriented research/evaluation. Theories of female development are just now emerging. Rhodes and Fischer (1993) found that a controversy exists over the adequacy of current theories of female deviance. As suggested in this paper, male and female delinquency may result from qualitatively different underlying processes. Theoretical models, related to either deviance or positive youth development have not adequately addressed the experiences of the majority of girls.
In doing community evaluation, we also need to ask questions about gender, race, and class. If a program is successful, what makes it successful and with which groups? The purposes of evaluation are to improve program process, assist in theory building, and enhance decision-making. Past problems with research and evaluation include the failure to find culturally sensitive (and gender sensitive) instruments, fully understand context, and make assumptions about how groups are or are not the same.
Conclusions
Recreation programmers cannot directly change the risk factors that girls face growing up, but we can help address them in positive ways. Social contradictions, body images, sexuality, and stress are going to exist. We can help young people gain confidence in being able to deal with these issues:
[Girls] need time and protected places in which to grow and develop socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. They need quiet time, talking time, reading time and laughing time. They need safe places where they can go to learn about themselves and others. They need places where they can take risks and make mistakes without fearing for their lives. They need to be valued for their personhood not their bodies (Pipher, 1994, p. 230).
Girls and boys need the structure and security of the 1950s AND the tolerance for diversity and autonomy of the 1990s. Growing up female in the millennium is a challenge that recreation programmers must address.
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Figure 1
A Public Health Model (adapted from Pittman, 1997)