‘Mean girls’ trend points to deeper problem

“We’ve been seeing this developing over the last decade or so, and it seems to be related at least in part to the change in the kinds of role models and behaviors that we’re defining as acceptable for girls or even valued in girls, with many more violent ‘super-sheroes,’ as we call them,” said Dr. Howard Spivak, director of the Tufts University Center for Children.

“It’s very much like we’ve been doing with boys for many, many decades,” Spivak, author of “Sugar and Spice and No Longer Nice: How We Can Stop Girls’ Violence,” told Jansing in an interview Thursday. “But there’s been a real qualitative change, and girls are fighting much more.”

The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence concluded that the roots of female adolescent violence are planted at home.

“The initial causes of violence are found in the early learning experiences in the family, which includes weak family bonding, and ineffective monitoring and supervision,” its report said. “The exposure to and reinforcement for violence in the home, including physical abuse, has a tremendous impact on the potential for later adolescent female violence.”

Spivak said that was why parents needed to pay more attention to how their children behaved in social situations.

“Certainly, signs often appear early on, in the form of bullying behavior, either those being victimized in bullying interactions or doing the bullying themselves,” he said. “Often when kids get involved in violence, you see changes in other elements of their lives.”

Parents of girls should watch for these signs, he said:

• Declining performance in the classroom and at after-school jobs.
• New friends who set off suspicions.
• More time spent alone.

“The best thing to do is for parents to talk with their kids and find out what’s going on,” Spivak stressed, advice echoed by Harold Jones, a lawyer hired by the school district to investigate the Texas cheerleaders.

In Jones’ view, it is the adults responsible for guiding girls to adulthood who are at least as much to blame as the girls themselves.

“Kids will be kids, but adults have to be adults,” Jones wrote in his report. “Sadly, in this saga, I was struck by the reticence of many adults to accept the role of ‘being the grown-up.’”

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