Girl Scout Research Institute
What’s It Like to Be a Girl in Today’s World?
The Girl Scout Research Institute delivers customer-centric, data-driven insights across the Girl Scout Movement and beyond. Our team measures the impact of Girl Scout programming and leads national conversations about girls and their development via groundbreaking original studies. These findings are then used to inform program, public policy, and advocacy for Girl Scouting—and we’re happy to share them with you.
Featured Research
The Girl Scout Alum Difference: A Lifetime of Courage,
Confidence, and Character (2021)
To understand the long-term benefits of Girl Scouting and earning the Girl Scout Gold Award, the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) conducted a national study with 1,000 Girl Scout alums, 800 women who were never Girl Scouts, and 922 Gold Award Girl Scout alums.
This research shows that participating in Girl Scouts is a powerful factor for developing courage, confidence, and character, which in turn build a foundation for success in education and careers, enable a lifetime of leadership, and provide high levels of life satisfaction. Alums assert that Girl Scouts set them on a path for achievement, connected them to something bigger than themselves, and helped them develop their passions and interests.
Download PDF Full Report | Executive Summary
Alum Fact Sheet
A New Decade of Girls Leadership: Part 1 (2020)
The vote is in! What youth think about the gender gap in politics.
As a refresh of our 2008 study Change It Up! What Girls Say About Redefining Leadership (PDF), we conducted a national study of 3,000 girls/young women and 1,000 boys/young men ages 8–21 to better understand how young people define, experience, and aspire toward leadership now and in the future.
The findings in this report—the first in a two-part series—focus on gender, politics, and civic engagement. This report examines young people’s beliefs about women in politics, including their thoughts on the need for equal gender representation in Congress. It also examines how girls of all ages are finding ways to civically engage and take action and how girls want to take the lead in public service and advocacy!
Download PDF Full Report
The Benefits of Being a Girl Scout Volunteer (2020)
Research shows that volunteering offers a person all sorts of benefits, from the connection and sense of purpose felt through supporting important causes and helping people in need, to boosting one’s mental and physical health. Our fact sheet spotlights how our adult members benefit from their Girl Scout volunteer experiences; included are testimonials from troop leaders across the country on what volunteering means to them as well as quotes from girls about how volunteers impact their lives. In addition, data from the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic show how troop leaders and their troops have given back to their communities in enormous ways!
Download PDF Summary
Girls Speak Out About Mental Health (2020)
Being girl-led is part of Girl Scouts’ DNA—which is why in fall 2019 the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) took on the research behind Girls Speak Out About Mental Health with ten members of the G-Team, a group of high school Girl Scouts who serve as advisors to Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). The G-Team used this research to frame a “Girls Speak Out” session at the 55th triannual National Council Session—a chance for girls to make their voices heard across the Girl Scout Movement on a topic they care deeply about.
Download PDF Full Report
WATCH VIDEO Girls
Speak Out
Breaking the Firewall to Girls' Cybersecurity Access (2020)
Cybersecurity is one of the top risks that companies and individuals alike face, and it affects every aspect of our lives. Unfortunately, there is a massive shortage of experienced cybersecurity expertise, with millions of cybersecurity jobs estimated to be unfilled in the next few years. At the same time, women are grossly underrepresented in cybersecurity and hold a minority of leadership roles within the field. This paper discusses the need to create a strong future workforce by educating girls about why cybersecurity matters and giving them the skills they’ll need to pursue careers in the field. As the preeminent leadership development organization for girls, Girl Scouts is perfectly positioned to accomplish this goal. Through our programs, girls are empowering themselves with the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience they need to thrive in the interconnected world we live in and to become the cybersecurity leaders of tomorrow.
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the Interactive Version
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Download PDF Full Report
Today's Girls, Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs: Transforming Interest and Aptitude into Success (2019)
This report examines how girls experience and aspire toward entrepreneurship in their current and future lives. Many girls are already interested in careers in entrepreneurship, are actively engaged in entrepreneurial activities, and possess an entrepreneurial mindset that gives them the tools to solve problems in their day-to-day experiences, in their communities, and in the world. To transform girls’ interest and aptitude into success, adults need to give girls opportunities to learn and must work to remove the obstacles that girls identify: a fear of failure and perceptions that women in business face a steeper hill to climb than men.
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Download PDF Full Report
Study Summary English
| Español
Tip Sheet for Parents and Volunteers English
| Español
Decoding the Digital Girl: Supporting and Defining Girls’ Digital Leadership (2019)
Decoding the Digital Girl: Defining and Supporting Girls’ Digital Leadership details how girls are using their digital experiences to improve their lives, their communities, and the world. What we learned shows that many girls exhibit leadership in the digital space—an impressive number of them to a degree that, by the high standards of Girl Scouts of the USA, qualifies them as digital leaders. This is crucial, because in a few years the current generation of girls will enter a workforce in great need of tech talent, as well as the confidence and innovator skills that Girl Scouts helps girls develop.
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the Interactive Version
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Report | Study Summary
Girl
Scout Summary
Studies About the Impact of Girl Scouting
Girl Scout Alums Take Action! (2020)
New research by the Girl Scout Research Institute
confirms that Girl Scout alums are more likely than non-alums to be
civically engaged and make a difference in their communities by being leaders.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
Girl Scout Alums by the Numbers (2020)
This fact
sheet summarizes stats and impact of the Girl Scout experience on Girl
Scout alums in the U.S.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
Girl Scouts Soar in the Outdoors (2019)
This report
from the Girl Scout Research Institute, supported by the Elliott Wildlife Values
Project, summarizes findings from a 2018–19 study investigating
the impact of outdoor engagement and national outdoor badge
programming on girls—including the achievement of Girl Scouts of the
USA’s outdoor
outcomes (PDF). Responses to 1,690 girl and 236 troop leader
surveys were analyzed. Results showed that Girl Scouts is getting
girls outdoors; exposing them to new and challenging experiences; and
enhancing their outdoor interest, confidence, and competence. Girl
Scouting is also building girls’ commitment to environmental
stewardship, which will help them engage responsibly with nature
throughout their lives. In short, outdoor adventure enriches the Girl
Scout experience for girls.
Download Summary (PDF)
Four Ways Girl Scouts Builds Girl Leaders in the Outdoors
(2019)
For over 100 years, girls have explored and strengthened
their outdoor skills and commitment to environmental stewardship
through Girl Scouting. Download our fact sheet to learn about the four
key outcomes that Girl Scouts’ outdoor programming helps girls
achieve, as well as how these results support girls’ development of
healthy habits and crucial 21st-century leadership skills.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
From Girl Scout Camp to Real-World Champ! (2019)
In summer 2018, the Girl Scout Research Institute
collaborated with the American Camp Association (ACA) to explore
whether the skills, behaviors, and attitudes youth learn at camp carry
over to other parts of their lives. Survey responses from over 700
adults who attended camp as kids—424 alums of Girl Scout camp and 286
alums of non–Girl Scout camps—provide compelling evidence that Girl
Scout camp sets girls up for a lifetime of success!
Download Fact Sheet | Quotes (PDF)
Four Ways Girl Scouts Builds Girl Leaders in STEM
(2017)
Today, as always, Girl Scouts engages girls in unique
hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming
that piques their curiosity and leaves them ready to do and learn
more. By participating in this programming, girls benefit in four
crucial ways: their STEM interest increases, their STEM confidence
climbs, their STEM competence grows, and they come to understand the
value of STEM to society. Our fact sheet summarizes these outcomes and
why they’re important, including the role they play in encouraging
girls to continue engaging in STEM.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
The Girl Scout Impact Study (2017)
This summary of findings, which draws on data from
a nationally representative sample of Girl Scouts and non-Girl Scouts
aged 5-18, shows that Girl Scouts are more likely than non-Girl Scouts
to develop strong leadership outcomes, have adults in their lives who
help them think about their future and pursue goals, and participate
in activities that shape their character and open up new worlds to them.
Girl Scouts also helps girls do well in the classroom and beyond! Compared to their non-Girl Scouts peers, Girl Scouts earn better grades, have higher academic aspirations, and desire a career in STEM, business, or law; industries in which women are underrepresented. The Girl Scout Impact Report provides compelling evidence that Girl Scouts has a strong, positive impact on girls, helping them develop into citizens who are responsible, caring and engaged – and prepared for a lifetime of leadership.
Download Full Report | Fact Sheet
How Girl Scouts Enhances the State of Girls (PDF)
Five Ways Girl Scouts Builds Girl Leaders (2016)
In 2016, the Girl Scout Research Institute in
collaboration with Tufts University’s Institute for Applied
Research in Youth Development revised its outcomes model. The
Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) now focuses on five outcomes,
with validated measures that are closely connected to the to the Girl
Scout mission and program activities and reflect competencies the
youth development field have determined are crucial to helping youth
thrive. To learn about the outcomes revision process and why these
outcomes matter, download the fact sheets below.
Download Five Ways Girl Scouts Builds Girl Leaders | Girl Scout Leadership Experience Outcomes Revision (PDF)
The Power of the Girl Scout Gold Award: Excellence in Leadership
and Life (2016)
In celebration of 100 years of girls
changing the world, this report summarizes the positive impact of the
highest award in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award. Findings
show that Gold Award recipients represent our most successful and
engaged—and happiest—Girl Scout alumnae.
Download Executive Summary (PDF)
How Girl Scout STEM Programs Benefit Girls (2016)
This report highlights findings from evaluations conducted by the Girl
Scout Research Institute of nationally funded Girl Scout STEM
programs. It illustrates just some of the benefits to Girl Scouts when
they participate in STEM programming, particularly in relation to
social and emotional impacts.
Download Full Report (PDF)
How Girl Scouting Benefits Girls (2014)
This
compilation of findings from the Girl Scout Research Institute
addresses the benefits of participation in Girl Scout programming.
Download Full Report (PDF)
More Than S'mores: Successes and Surprises in Girl Scouts'
Outdoor Experiences (2014)
Among key findings of
this study are that girls' outdoor experiences are positively linked
to their challenge seeking, problem solving, and environmental
stewardship. Additionally, when girls get outdoors on a monthly basis
in Girl Scouts, doing even casual outdoor activities, they are much
more likely to agree that they've learned to recognize their
strengths, to do something they thought they couldn't do, and to gain
skills that will help them do better in school.
Download Full Report | Executive Summary | Infographic (PDF)
The Girl Scout Leadership Experience: Delivering Fun with
Purpose (2014)
This summary of findings, which draws on
data from national surveys of over 10,000 Girl Scouts in grades K–12,
shows that the Girl Scout Leadership Experience delivers "fun
with purpose" by helping girls gain valuable life skills and
amazing new experiences while having fun and building friendships.
Download Executive Summary (PDF)
Girl Scouting Works: The Alumnae Impact
Study (2012)
This study, conducted in conjunction with
Fluent, an independent research firm, reached the following
conclusion: women who were Girl Scouts display positive life outcomes
pertaining to sense of self, community service, civic engagement,
education, and income to a greater degree than women who were not Girl
Scouts. This is the case for all alumnae, across generations, class,
and race.
Download Full Report | Executive Summary | Overview (PDF)
Linking Leadership to Academic Success: The Girl Scout
Difference (2012)
The findings from this report
demonstrate how Girl Scouting supports academic engagement and
achievement, with an emphasis on the role of Girl Scout processes and
leadership outcomes in helping girls succeed in school. The findings
also reveal that, in some cases, Girl Scout programming has greater
benefits for lower-SES girls—that is, girls whose mothers have less
than a college education. A set of "research to action" tip
sheets accompanies the report, highlighting how results may be used to
enhance program delivery, volunteer training, membership growth, and fundraising.
Download Full Report | Summary—English | Summary—Español | Tip Sheet (PDF)
Mapping the Girl Scout Leadership Experience Outcomes to the
Search Institute's Youth Developmental Assets (2012)
By establishing the links between the Girl Scout Leadership Experience
and positive youth development, this toolkit allows users to identify
broader connections between Girl Scout programming and the goals of
funders and other community partners that use the Youth Development
Assets framework.
Download Full Report (PDF)
Studies About Girls in the United States
The State of Girls 2017: Emerging Truths and Troubling
Trends (2017)
The State of Girls
is the first research
report to focus on the health and well-being of the 26 million girls
in the United States, and contains national statistical indicators
focused on key issues in economic, physical, and emotional health;
education; and extracurricular/out-of-school activities.
The third edition of this landmark report, The State of Girls 2017: Emerging Truths and Troubling Trends, focuses on national- and state-level trends across key indicators affecting girls’ overall well-being. The findings suggest that girls across the country face challenges involving obesity, emotional health, and economic conditions that haven’t improved, and in some cases have even worsened, since the Great Recession.
Download The State of Girls 2017 (PDF)
The Vote Is In: What Americans Say About the Importance of Girls’
Issues (2016)
This fact sheet summarizes how a
national sample of American voters view and prioritize girls’
education and healthy development during the months leading up to the
2016 presidential election. Results show that voters care deeply about
issues pertaining to girls in the United States. and wish to see these
issues moved to the forefront of the national agenda in order for this
country to optimally develop the next generation of leaders.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
The State of Girls: Thriving or Surviving?
(2014)
Examining girls' well-being across each of the 50
states and the District of Columbia, this report ranks each state
based on an index of girls' well-being. Five indicators are
considered: physical health and safety, economic
well-being, education, emotional health,
and extracurricular/out-of-school-time activities.
Download Full Report | Infographic (PDF)
Running for a Change: Girls and Politics Pulse
Poll (2014)
Examining girls' interest in politics today,
this national poll reveals that girls have an array of political and
civic engagement experiences both in and out of school—but their
interest and experience doesn't necessarily lead to a future political
career. They believe women are capable of pursuing political careers
but realize that girls need more guidance, opportunities, and general
support to further their interest in politics.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
Having It All: Girls and Financial Literacy (2013)
While lack of financial literacy is a growing concern for everyone
today, relatively little research has been done on how young people
think about money, and even fewer studies focus on girls specifically.
The revelation: while 90 percent of girls say it is important to learn
how to manage money, only 12 percent feel "very confident"
making financial decisions.
Download Full Report and Tip Sheet for Adults English | Español | Study Summary | Infographic (PDF)
The State of Girls: Unfinished Business (2013)
This
groundbreaking national report, the most comprehensive of its kind,
explores the issues and trends affecting girls’ well-being in America.
The takeaway: while there is promising news for girls, many are being
left behind.
Download Full Report | Executive Summary | Fact Sheet | Slideshow (PDF)
Generation STEM: What Girls Say About Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math (2012)
This national report
investigates girls' interests in STEM subjects—science, technology,
engineering, and math. The study finds that girls are interested in
these subjects and aspire to pursue careers in related fields, but
they need further exposure and education.
Download Full Report | Study Summary | Tips for Adults | Tips for Girls (PDF)
Order Executive Summary (Book)
Real to Me: Girls and Reality TV (2011)
National research shows that regular reality TV viewers differ
dramatically from their non-viewing peers in their expectations of
peer relationships, their overall self-image, and their understanding
of how the world works. Findings also suggest that reality TV can
function in the lives of girls as a learning tool and as inspiration
for getting involved in social causes.
Download Fact Sheet | Tips for Parents | Tips for Girls (PDF)
The Resilience Factor: A Key to Leadership in African American
and Hispanic Girls
(2011)
This discussion paper, generated from national
leadership research conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute,
explores the concept of resilience as a framework for developing
leadership skills based on recent literature focused on African
American and Hispanic girls.
Download Full Report (PDF)
Beauty Redefined: Girls and Body Image
Survey (2010)
This nationwide survey, conducted in
conjunction with the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, finds many girls consider
the body image sold by the fashion industry unrealistic, creating an
unattainable model of beauty. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed say
the fashion industry (89 percent) and/or the media (88 percent) place
a lot of pressure on them to be thin.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
Who's That Girl? Image and Social Media
Survey (2010)
This nationwide survey, which included
more than 1,000 girls ages 14 to 17, finds the increased exposure to
social media puts teenage girls in a confusing situation where a
girl's image is not always what it seems. Nearly 74 percent of girls
believe that most girls use social networking sites to make themselves
"cooler than they really are," and the survey also finds
that girls downplay positive characteristics—including intelligence
and kindness.
Download Fact Sheet | Tips for Parents | Tips for Girls (PDF)
Disclaimer: Statistical data collected by the Girl Scout Research Institute is presented for informational purposes only and does not necessarily imply a specific position by Girl Scouts of the USA on a given issue.
