Lives of Girls and Women

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Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women
A Joint Task Force of APA Divisions 17 and 35

Adopted February 2007

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Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women
During recent decades, women and girls of diverse ethnicities, social classes, sexual orientations, and life experiences have encountered dramatic and complex changes in education, health, work, reproductive and caregiving roles, and personal relationships. Although many of these changes have resulted in increased equality, opportunity, and quality of life, girls and women are also at risk for a variety of health concerns and life stresses (National Healthcare Disparities Report, 2005). Stressors in the lives of women and girls include interpersonal victimization and violence, unrealistic media images of girls and women, discrimination and oppression, devaluation, limited economic resources, role overload, relationship disruptions, and work inequities. Violence against girls and women is often predicated in sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia (Glick & Fiske, 1997; Koss, Heisi & Russo, 1994; West, 2002). Salient mental health statistics reveal that women are two times more likely than men to be depressed, and girls are seven times more likely than boys to be depressed (Lewinsohn, Rhode, Seeley, & Baldwin, 2001). Women who are subject to group and individual discrimination are even more likely to experience depression (Klonis, Endo, Crosby, & Worell, 1997). Girls and women are also roughly nine times more likely to have eating disorders than boys and men (Stice & Bearman, 2001; Stice, Burton, & Shaw, 2004). Compared to men, women are two to three times more likely to experience many types of anxiety disorders (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health, 2001). The abuse and violence in our society (e.g., abuse, battering, rape) may contribute to the development of dysfunctional behavior such as eating disorders, depression, anxiety,... [continues]

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