The Triple Bind - by Stephen Hinshaw & Rachel Kranz (Paperback)

About the Book

One of the nation's foremost experts on teens reveals the silent crisis that today's girls face--what Hinshaw calls the Triple Bind--and offers innovative solutions, showing concerned parents how to listen, learn, and help girls unlock the shackles of the Triple Bind.

Book Synopsis

The Triple Bind that girls face today:
- Act sweet and nice
- Be a star athlete and get straight A's
- Seem sexy and hot even if you're not

In many ways, today is the best time in history to be a girl: Opportunities for a girl's success are as unlimited as her dreams. Yet societal expectations, cultural trends, and conflicting messages are creating what psychologist and researcher Stephen Hinshaw calls "the Triple Bind." Girls are now expected to excel at "girl skills," achieve "boy goals," and be models of female perfection, 100 percent of the time. Here, Dr. Hinshaw reveals key aspects of the Triple Bind, including

- genes, hormones, and the role of biology in confronting the Triple Bind
- overscheduled lives and how the high pressure to excel at everything sets girls up for crisis
- how traditionally feminine qualities (such as empathy and self-awareness) can put girls at risk for anxiety, depression, and other disorders
- the oversexualization of little girls, preteens, and teenagers
- the reasons girls are channeling pressure into violence

Combining moving personal stories with extensive research, Dr. Hinshaw provides tools for parents who want to empower their daughters to deal in healthy ways with today's pressures.

Review Quotes

"Highly readable, fascinating account of the lives of contemporary young women ... In probing chapters that deftly synthesize sobering statistics, case anecdotes, and personal observation, Hinshaw makes a strong case that teen girls are in crisis ... This balanced, thorough, compassionate title is required reading for parents, teachers, and teens of both sexes."
-- Booklist

"If you read any book about girls in the next decade, make it The Triple Bind. Dr. Hinshaw masterfully articulates the intense and hidden pressures that every one of our daughters endures. Most important, he offers us solutions."
-Dr. Meg Meeker, author of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

"Society is failing today's girls, pressuring them to achieve success at levels they cannot possibly attain. Now that Stephen Hinshaw has named and explained The Triple Bind, it's up to all of us to better support the healthy development and inner well-being of girls. A must-read."
-Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., coauthor of So Sexy So Soon

About the Author

Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an internationally recognized psychologist and researcher whose work on troubled children has received ongoing media attention. Articles and interviews featuring him and his work have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. He has appeared on Today, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and CNN.