Stressed-Out Girls: Helping Them Thrive in the Age of Pressure

Many adolescent girls struggle with tremendous academic and social stress. Although it's common for them to bury their anguish, clinical psychologist Cohen-Sandler uncovers it in this treatise on the true feelings of 3,000 teenaged girls. Drawing on her clinical work, interviews and a wide-ranging survey, Cohen-Sandler identifies five types of worried girls and lays out strategies for helping them lessen anxiety, develop resiliency and build confidence. Among Cohen-Sandler's types are ""adapting girls"" who are challenged by transitions, ""undervalued girls"" who wrestle with ""square peg"" dilemmas, ""insecure girls"" who are desperate for acceptance, perfectionist girls who ""burn too bright,"" and ""distracted girls"" whose minds wander. Geared specifically toward parents, the advice is practical and realistic: create a strong alliance with your daughter, avoid comparisons and enlist teachers' assistance. Mainly, though, Cohen-Sandler wants parents to convey to their daughters that they ""are lovable despite their inevitable imperfections."" The author has a substantial background in writing about teenaged girls in Girls' Life and Seventeen, and her wise, well-researched chronicle should be of help to parents of teen girls struggling with stress.