Teenage girls an increasing worry for parents

TEENAGE girls have overtaken boys as the greatest cause of worry to their parents, calls to a parent helpline have revealed.

Calls to Parentline services show that girls accounted for 52% of calls in the past year an increase of 10% from 2004.

Bullying, drinking, smoking and sexual activity among young girls are upsetting thousands of parents and prompting them to ring the helpline.

Over two-thirds (67%) of the calls relating to alcohol abuse came from parents worried about their daughters, while girls also accounted for 65% of calls about smoking, almost double the number of calls concerning boys smoking.

But it was the direct opposite when it came to drugs, with 67% of calls about drug abuse coming from parents concerned about their sons.

Girls were more troublesome than boys when it came to bullying, accounting for 57% of calls from parents worried that their child was bullying someone.

The biggest gender gap was in calls about sexual behaviour, with one in five coming from parents worried that their daughters are sexually active.

Manager of Parentline, Rita O'Reilly, said it's not that girls are worse behaved than boys, but parents are probably more forgiving of sons because of the "boys will be boys" attitude.

"I suspect that parents worry about their girls a lot more than boys, because girls are more vulnerable. For example, if they go out and get drunk they can risk being raped or getting pregnant."

"Maybe as well it's because girls talk more, while boys keep things inside, so parents are more likely to know about what their daughters are up to," she said.

"A possible reason for girls coming across as being more angry towards each other and their parents is that "at that age, boys are playing football and are more physically active, and they might run off a lot of the anger and confusion that comes with maturing and hormone-hopping and things like that", she said.

Parentline is receiving fewer calls relating to the stereotypical teenage problems such as drug abuse and eating disorders.

"Now there are other services to help parents with these concerns, such as Bodywhys," said Ms O'Reilly.

The service has begun registering the number of calls from parents concerned about their children being gay, as these calls have been increasing year on year.

Mothers were more likely to call the line than fathers 83% of calls came from women and just 17% from men. Parentline had just one call from a male in its first 12 years of existence, 20 years ago.

Not surprisingly, the 13-18 year olds gave rise to the most calls to the line. The troublesome teens are followed by calls from parents of babies less than a year old, usually concerning post-natal depression.

Concerns about children go right up to those in their 50s, showing that some parents never stop worrying.

Parentline can be contacted on 1890 927 277, from 10am to 9.30pm Monday to Thursdays, and 10am to 4.30pm on Fridays.