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J Youth Adolescence (2013) 42:13081311 DOI 10.1007/s10964-013-9944-2
BOOK REVIEW
Leonard Sax: Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis For Girls
Basic Books Publishing, New York, NY, 2011, 272 pp, ISBN: 978-0465022069
Marilyn Welton
Received: 24 March 2013 / Accepted: 25 March 2013 / Published online: 6 April 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
In Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls, Dr. Leonard Sax examines the world in which adolescent girls are growing up and acknowledges how and why this world is negatively inuencing their development of a sense of self. Todays adolescents are growing up in an unparalleled time and culture, and it seems as though girls have more opportunities. However, Sax explores the ways in which certain opportunities can put girls at risk physically, socially, and emotionally. This book shows that todays world is not the same world of previous generations, or even the same world girls grew up in 10 years ago. Girls on the Edge provides insight into the challenges girls face and some of the unspoken rules that exist.
Girls on the Edge is helpful not only in helping people understand girl world better but also in giving practical advice on how to reduce negative societal effects and actively help girls develop in a healthy manner. Sax draws on his experience as a family physician and psychologist, in addition to relevant research, to provide evidence and create a clear message for readers. The four factors Sax identies as having a role in inhibiting girls sense of who they are as a person are sexual identity, the cyberbubble, obsessions, and environmental toxins. He discusses each of these factors in the rst part of the book. The second half of the book focuses on solutions to these problems in the form of the healthy development of mind, body, and spirit. This book would be an aid to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of adolescent girls or those who wish\s to help with their development.
The rst chapter explores the rst factor Sax has identied: sexual identity. He concisely sums up the chapter in the rst sentence: Girls are getting sexier earlier. Thats not a good thing (p. 11)....