Many, especially in the U.S., attend multiple physical buildings as they transition between elementary, middle, and high school. “Changes...are likely to increase social comparison, concerns about evaluation, and competitiveness” (Eccles 93). Educational establishments are prime locations for measuring one’s abilities against his or her peers’, and studies suggest that “people who spontaneously make frequent social comparisons experience more destructive emotions and behaviors” such as anxiety or depression (White 36). The onset of puberty and its attributes, specifically, can also cause symptoms of depression that can differentiate depending on gender. In a study from 1990, researchers noticed that girls specifically “who reported low self-esteem because of worries about appearance were more likely to report depression a month later.” While the number of depressed girls at this particular school made up four percent of the female population, only half of the number of boys, two percent, were diagnosed (Goleman 1).
Proof of