Assessing Gilligan versus Sommers: Gender-Specific Trends in Child and Youth Well-Being in the United States, 1985 - 1999

Sarah Meadows, Duke University
Vicki Lamb, Duke University

On average, are there substantial differences between male and female child and youth well-being in the United States? Are females doing better than males? Or vice versa? What are the trends in sex-specific child and youth well-being in recent decades? While these questions have been debated in psychology, sociology, and feminist studies, there are few empirical studies that have systematically addressed them. In the present study, sex-specific trends in 28 national-level time series social indicators in seven quality-of-life domains - material well-being, social relationships (with family and peers), health, safety/behavioral concerns, productive activity (educational attainments), place in community (participation in schooling or work), and emotional/spiritual well-being - are reviewed. These indicators are indexed by percentage change from the base year, 1985, and subsequent annual observations through the year 2000 are computed as a percentage of the base year values. Domain specific summary indices as well as a summary overall well-being index are computed. The results are mixed - they show that for both boys and girls, some of the seven domains of well-being have improved since 1985, while others have deteriorated. Since 1995, overall well-being indices for boys and girls have shown significant improvement and 2000 levels were well above 1985 baseline figures. A direct comparison of male and female well-being reveals that the absolute level of gender differences in the summary well-being index decreased in both the late 1980s and late 1990s. The study concludes that gender differences in well-being, when they do exist, are very slight and that overall, both boys and girls currently enjoy a higher quality-of-life than they did in 1985. The findings are discussed in relation to recent debates in feminist literature.