An Overview Boys and girls experience similar gains in autonomy between fifth and ninth grade. Only a small minority of young adolescents report major conflicts with parents. In all three areas, girls report more competency than boys.
Social alienation is highest for fifth graders and is higher for boys than for girls.
Between the fifth and ninth grades, girls develop a less favorable concept of their own body image. At each grade level, girls report higher achievement motivation than boys. Thirty-nine percent of fifth graders report being in love. The percent rises to 51 percent by ninth grade. One in five ninth graders report that they have had sexual intercourse.