Author to Address Pressures on Teenage Girls at PTA Forum

Society pressures teenage girls to be charming, athletic, smart and supermodel-pretty.

But those expectations can lead to a "triple bind" of depression, apathy and self-harm, University of California at Berkeley psychologist Stephen Hinshaw says in his book The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today’s Pressures.

Hinshaw will discuss his book and the mental-health crisis faced by young women as keynote speaker at a lecture hosted by the San Ramon Council of PTAs at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The event, called "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall ..." aims to teach families how to alleviate pressures placed on today's youth, particularly those about body image.

Hinshaw notes that at a time when teen girls enjoy more opportunities than their predecessors, media continues to impress a need to be thin and gorgeous. Those mixed messages have led to an increase in cutting, suicide, aggression and eating disorders.

"Given the unprecedented advances for women, it is the best of times to be a teenage girl," said Hinshaw in a statement. "But it is also the worst of times because many in this generation are experiencing depression earlier and are more vulnerable to serious mental-health problems.

"Triple bind" is a play on "double bind," a term coined in the 1950s by researchers looking into the effect of conflicting messages children hear from adults, according to Hinshaw.

Today, teen girls get even more mixed messages about what to aspire to, the book says. And when they fall short, the impact is all the more devastating.

The author next week will address cyber-culture and the real or perceived pressure on young girls to achieve it all academically, athletically and aesthetically. The speaker will take questions after his lecture, which will also address the increase in bullying, harassment and violence among girls.

The goal is to educate those who attends about how to recognize and tackle these issues with young women.

The talk is open to the public and takes place in the San Ramon Valley High School commons, 501 Danville Blvd., in Danville.

For more information, contact San Ramon Valley High parents Carol Moore at carolsmithmoore@sbcglobal.net or Robin Kelley at kelleyview@msn.com. Kelley – the Parent Education Chair for the council of PTAs – organized the event.

To learn more about Hinshaw, visit the following websites:

• http://psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/shinshaw.html
• http://hinshawlab.berkeley.edu/
• http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=conv/hinshaw
• http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/02/10_triplebind.shtml