Indiana Girl Report Provides Statewide Data
Research findings provide an outlook on challenges facing girls in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Girl Coalition of Indiana, inspired by the Girl Scouts, in partnership with Indiana Youth Institute has released the 2023 Indiana Girl Report. The report is the very first of its kind and was developed through qualitative and quantitative research to provide insight into critical challenges girls are experiencing and the variances across the state.
The report’s findings create a foundation for understanding key issues impacting the quality of life for girls. It also offers a roadmap for cultivating supportive environments and developing resources for girls to help them navigate through topics often considered taboo including mental health, sexual dating violence, gender bias, bullying, and more.
Key findings from the research include:
- Among 7th to 12th grade girls in Indiana, 47.1% experienced depression in 2022 and nearly 1 in 4 girls seriously considered suicide.
- Girls in Indiana are more likely than boys to become victims of bullying. They are twice as likely to become victims of traditional bullying and three times as likely to become victims of cyberbullying compared to boys.
- From 2015 to 2021, the rate of physical and sexual dating violence among girls in Indiana has increased, while the prevalence among boys has decreased. 17% of high school girls reported having experienced sexual dating violence in 2021 – 5x the rate of boys.
- In 2021, girls were admitted for inpatient care at a hospital more than three times the rate of boys.
“There is a stark discrepancy between the mental and physical health of Indiana’s girls and their male counterparts,” said Girl Coalition of Indiana Executive Director, Mackenzie Pickerrell. This report shines a light on what many of us knew already, our girls are not ok, and we must act now to remove the barriers that exist throughout Indiana which prevent our girls from thriving. Our plan is to share this research with families, educators, youth-development providers, and influencers, providers as a means for arming them with pathways for having courageous conversations at home, developing programming, and passing legislation that will improve the quality of life for all girls in Indiana.”
A full copy of the report can be found at GirlCoalitionIndiana.org/report. For more information about the Girl Coalition of Indiana, visit GirlCoaltionIndiana.org.
For media inquiries, contact us at: Media@GirlCoalitionIndiana.org
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About Indiana Youth Institute
Since 1988, Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) has worked to achieve its mission to improve the lives of all Indiana children by strengthening and connecting the people, organizations, and communities that are focused on kids and youth. IYI provides critical data, capacity-building resources, and innovative training for over 2,500 diverse youth-serving organizations and 17,000 youth workers each year. IYI has a long history of actively listening to Indiana’s youth workers and community leaders, leveraging their feedback to facilitate collaboration and promote problem-solving and collective advocacy on a statewide scale.
About the Girl Coalition of Indiana, Inspired by Girl Scouts
Six Girl Scout councils currently serve girls in the state of Indiana. To ensure every girl in Indiana lives her best life physically, academically, emotionally, and socially, all six councils aligned in an unprecedented collaboration to form a Girl Coalition of Indiana funded by the Lilly Endowment. The vision of the Girl Coalition of Indiana is to enable every girl in Indiana to live her best life physically, academically, emotionally, and socially. Over the next three years, the project vision will accomplish measurable goals, including increasing overall Girl Scout membership of girls in low-income households through several initiatives, including conducting, sharing, and acting on annual research of the State of the Indiana Girl.
About the Indiana Girl Report
The 2023 Indiana Girl Report is an annual snapshot of the well-being of Indiana girls statewide. A partnership between Indiana Youth Institute and the Girl Coalition of Indiana, the Indiana Girl Report aims to understand the realities girls face and the variances across regions and provides data-driven actions for parents, youth service providers, and policymakers to improve support and overall conditions in the state of Indiana for Hoosier girls.