Gender and Body Concerns in Adolescent Females: Single Sex and Coeducational School Environments.

This paper involves focus group research with adolescent women from coeducational and single sex independent schools. First, it discusses research that finds girls who attend single sex institutions to be at a distinct advantage with respect to gender issues and academics. In order to obtain a better understanding of these differences, a study is described that investigated the reasons why parents and their children choose single sex over coeducational environments. Next, it reviews research demonstrating that all female environments tend to promote adherence to particularly confusing gender role concerns. A brief discussion is included on literature typing body image and eating disturbances to a sense of gender ambivalence resulting from increased exposure to conflicting gender role prescriptions. Focus group data are analyzed and discussed in the context of the literature reviewed. The paper does not attempt to determine if single sex education is superior or inferior for adolescent girls; rather, the work is exploratory in nature and seeks to expose some of the gendered dynamics occurring within various educational contexts. (Contains 47 references.) (Author/JDM)