The Intersection: Where Sports and Social Work Meet

Self-confidence is a really funny thing.  Turns out, we’re born with some form of it, and it’s nurtured by our parents like crazy.  It’s what allows babies to learn to walk and talk, and to try new foods and skills like walking and later, running.  A survey of 1300 8-18-yr old girls and their parents gave some really alarming insight .  The research shows that there’s basically no difference in confidence levels between girls and boys under 12.  But by 14, girls are way less confident than boys.   The craziest thing about this research is that it says girls are less confident than boys in middle and high school, EVEN THOUGH THEY GENERALLY PERFORM BETTER ACADEMICALLY THAN BOYS.  A 14-yr-old girl from the study said, “I feel that if I acted like my true self that no-one would like me".   Something that stuck out to me from this study was that  self-confidence in girls peaks around age 9.   9-year-olds are usually in 4th or 5...