Teenage Girls Talk

KEY DESCRIPTION A partner volume to TEENAGE BOYS TALK, this book examines the views, attitudes and experiences of 52 New Zealand teenage girls aged from 13 to 18 years old. ABOUT THE BOOK In this book, the girls respond to questions about families, education, and social activities and talk about their spiritual beliefs, opinions on society and their hopes for the future. Direct quotes are interspersed with questions and summary points. By far the most consistent theme of this book is that teenage girls feel constantly judged and misunderstood by adults. Overall, the girls seem to be more inclined to introspection and depression than the boys were, and they do not have such a positive outlook on life. The girls come from a wide range of family backgrounds. About half live with their original parents, a quarter with their step-parents and a quarter with one parent - or moving between one and the other.There is also a mixture of families where one parent is working and the other parent is home all day or works part-time; families with both parents working; and some with neither parent employed.;Ethnically, approximately two-thirds of the girls were Pakeha, the rest Maori, with a few Asian and a couple from minority European cultures. About a quarter live rurally or in small towns in the Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay and Nelson areas - the others were in major cities: Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. TEENAGE GIRLS TALK provides an insight into the minds of young women in New Zealand and will appeal to all those wanting to better understand teenage girls.