boys

In India, there is a massive cultural preference for boys. Girls are seen more as financial burdens whereas boys are seen as bringing wealth to the family.

Because of the financial difficulties involved in the getting the girls married and having to pay expensive dowries, many Indian families are averse to having girls in the family.

The recent report in the medical journal 'Lancet' has found a trend among many Indian families where another girl child is aborted if there is already a girl in the family.

British researchers observed a “stunted brain growth” in regions associated with empathy in teenage boys displaying anti-social and aggressive behaviour.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge suspect structural variations in the brain as a plausible explanation to behavioral problems such as 'conduct disorder'. The emotional centres of the brain are poorly developed in boys indicted of antisocial activities ranging from theft to violence.

According to the latest study, girls tend to initiate the transition to other-sex friendship network earlier than boys, and are faster in befriending males during adolescence.

As a result, girls who experience this transition early and fast are more likely to fall prey to substance abuse in late adolescence, the Science Daily reports.

The study, published in the 'Journal of Research on Adolescence,' suggests that among girls, antisocial behavior and early pubertal maturation accelerates the increase in the proportion of other-sex friends.

400 teenagers studied