Damour: There’s at least a few reasons: One is that it has always been true that girls, when distressed, are more likely to collapse in on themselves, whereas boys are more likely to act out.

DAMOUR: We do try, in the methodologies, to account for, you know, how comfortable any given group of young people is with reporting how they're feeling. And - because people do ask that question.

Damour also warned parents that even if they themselves don't focus on how the girl looks, "they're up against a culture that sends a very powerful message" – one that is obsessed with beauty.

But Damour said parents should give kids some time to decompress and follow their cues. “And so if we can expect that or be on the lookout for them to bring things up, often we can connect then ...

DAMOUR: Well, there's a recent study that showed that 31 percent of girls reported suffering from symptoms of anxiety, compared to 13 percent of boys. So that's a pretty big gap.

Damour, who also is a lecturer at the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University, has been working with the writers and director of "Inside Out 2" since 2020, when they ...

Damour is the author of three New York Times best sellers: Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. She co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, works in collaboration with UNICEF ...

Maybe a hug from a parent no longer solves problems for a teen as it did in their childhood. But when it comes to teenage mental health, adults can do a lot to help, according to new data. “We ...

But that feeling of anxiety isn’t inherently bad, Damour said. “Anxiety is valuable for teenagers if it does things like help them to get going on a test they have not studied for,” she said.