Sex and Age Differences in Self-Reported Distress Among Affluent Adolescents in an Educational Counselling Setting in the United States

Abstract

This study investigated the most strongly endorsed problems for a group of affluent suburban girls (n = 58) and boys (n = 148), between ages 13 to 18, who were referred for educational counselling in the United States. Considerable overlap existed for male and female adolescents with regard to their most frequently reported problems, with boys and girls reporting seven common endorsements. Of particular interest was the prominence of items related to depression, compulsivity and achievement. Girls tended to report more depressive symptoms, whereas boys tended to report more symptoms related to compulsivity and achievement. Additionally, a significant age by sex interaction emerged for items related to achievement issues. Implications of these results for working with youth in cross-national educational counselling settings are discussed.