Boys and girls in countries rich and poor enter teens with damaging gender stereotypes firmly set

Whether you are child in Baltimore, Beijing, Nairobi or New Delhi, the onset of adolescence triggers a surprisingly common set of rigidly enforced gender expectations that are linked to increased lifelong risks of everything from HIV and depression to violence and suicide. That’s the key finding from a groundbreaking 15-country study released today by the Global Early Adolescent Study, a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) as a collection of articles in the Journal of Adolescent Health.