The average Indiana girl faces higher rates of bullying and sexual violence than her male peers, meaning their caregivers — from parents and schools to lawmakers — need to do a better job of addressing barriers to accessing mental health care and reducing violence in communities, according to a new report from several youth coalitions.

In other areas, such as reading proficiency, the state’s female adolescents outperformed boys.

The second annual Report on the girl from Indiana – from the Indiana Youth Institute, the Girl Coalition of Indiana and the Girl Scouts – seeks to assess the well-being of girls across the state, breaking down the differences between regions of the state.

“The 2024 Indiana Girl Report is more than a collection of data,” said Tami Silverman, president and CEO of IYI, in a statement. “It is an example of the fundamental role data plays in our collective work to care for and improve the lives of Indiana’s children. We are proud to partner with Girl Co., which is committed to using data to create impactful change. Together, we are making progress toward a better future for every girl in Indiana.”

As opposed to last year’s versionThe 2024 report focuses more explicitly on calls to action or ways families and stakeholders can improve the well-being of Indiana girls.

Report details

Some of the data comes from a national child well-being report that IYI breaks down to the Indiana level each year. Notably, Indiana ranked 24th in child well-being in 2023, only to slip to 27th earlier this year.

Just over 30% of girls ages 6-17 do not participate in organized activities or classes after school or on weekends – the highest non-participation rate among Indiana’s four neighboring states. Only one in 10 female students (10.6%) reported being active for an hour each week, compared to one in four male students (27.8%).

In addition, over 8,000 homeless girls were enrolled in school in the 2022-2023 school year – a 10% increase over the previous year.

The report found that not everyone felt they had a trusted adult in their life. While most students (nine out of ten girls) felt they had an adult mentor at school, one in five said they did not feel they could ask their parents for help with personal problems. One in seven boys also felt unable to ask their parents for help.

Advocates also said that 17.2% of female high school students reported experiencing intimate partner sexual violence in the past year, compared to only 2.5% of their male peers.

Combined with an increase in bullying – both of which are grouped under “interpersonal aggression” – the report takes a close look at access to mental health support for Indiana girls.

Indiana’s overall child well-being scores drop in new national report

“Given the higher rates of interpersonal aggression among girls – and the gaps in their positive childhood experiences – it is no surprise that girls are also twice as likely to report mental health problems as boys,” the report says. “All adolescents should have access to mental health support, including through programs, interventions and mental health services in their schools and communities.”

Young women in middle school or high school were twice as likely as their male peers to report mental health problems and reported more frequent substance abuse, such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and over-the-counter medications.

In fact, young women make up a growing share of mental health hospital admissions nationwide, which the report links to the rise in interpersonal aggression and the overall decline in adolescent mental health. Other factors that exacerbate this include: low household income, food insecurity, discrimination, immigration barriers, and more.

“Generations of poverty create a deep-rooted sense of hopelessness. Poverty brings many challenges, and girls in particular are left without support,” a member of the Girl Coalition team said in the report.

Despite these challenges, Indiana girls were more likely to score well in English and reading, and scored higher than their male peers on the state’s IREAD-3 test and ILEARN test. However, boys performed better than girls on the math portion of the ILEARN test.

Proposed solutions

“We wanted to know why girls are having these problems, so we dug deeper. We found more research, talked to practitioners and, most importantly, we talked to girls. In those conversations, we heard loud and clear that girls are resilient,” Mackenzie Pickerrell, the executive director of the Girl Coalition, said in the report.

“They have many answers to their needs and desires. They are asking the adults in their lives to listen to them. As caregivers and leaders, we must listen to them with empathy and then take action to ensure that Indiana’s systems put their well-being first, not just in the Statehouse but in health care and education.”

The report’s authors urged the Indiana girls’ caregivers to have open, nonjudgmental conversations and “create supportive social support structures,” which may include participating in after-school programs, informal mentorships or joining a Girl Scout troop.

For the program providers coordinating these support structures, in addition to bullying interventions, classes should include mental health education, sexual harassment prevention, and intimate partner violence—the same topics that caregivers should be discussing at home. Other topics to discuss include building self-esteem, teaching stress management skills, and supporting leadership skills.

Schools, another support structure outside the home, should also train teachers to address mental health issues and “leverage trauma-informed practices,” while reinforcing the core themes discussed above. However, the report acknowledges that Indiana is well below the recommended ratio of 1:250 social workers per student, which hinders such programs. In 2023, Indiana had one social worker for every 2,786 students.

Finally, state policymakers can invest in mental health programs in schools and in the community – improving access for all Indiana residents – and make policy decisions to reduce barriers related to economic status or racial disparities.

“Surrounding girls with supportive, trusted adults and creating safe spaces where all girls feel they belong are positive strategies that can interrupt negative cycles in areas we have defined as dimensions of well-being. We listen carefully to communities as they tell us about the systemic challenges that prevent girls from having positive youth development experiences like those in Girl Scouts. There is an urgent need to understand and address these barriers,” six executive directors of Girl Scout councils from across the state said in a letter.

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