What works and what doesn't for boys vs. girls

Child Trends has completed two new research briefs that examine programs and strategies that work, as well as don't work, for each gender: 

• What Works for Female Children and Adolescents: Lessons from Experi...
• What Works for Male Children and Adolescents: Lessons from Experime...

Each brief synthesizes findings from rigorously evaluated social interventions for youth. The outcome areas explored include academic achievement, delinquency, mental health, reproductive health, and social skills. 

One key finding for both boys and girls was that including parents in interventions in some way led to desirable impacts for mental health outcomes. On the other hand, for reproductive health, one-on-one interventions led to positive impacts for females, but experiential learning activities that included group activities were often effective for boys. In addition, while social skills training interventions were not successful for female children and adolescents in reducing externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression), in many cases for males, these types of interventions were successful.