Emotion

• More so than their female classmates, boys have trouble learning to understand their emotions and the emotions of others, according to Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D., in their book, "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys."
  
  

Physical Activity

• According to Kindlon and Thompson, due partly to their slower acquisition of verbal skills and partly to their sheer abundance of energy, boys more so than girls need outlets in school for physical activity by which to channel unarticulated emotions.
  
  

Early Maturation

• Boys who reach puberty sooner may enjoy certain advantages over their male classmates, such as greater athletic success, popularity and self-assurance, according to Professor David G. Meyers in his book, "Psychology."
  
  

Competition

• As boys approach puberty, they experience a rising need to prove themselves to male classmates through comparisons of strength, intelligence, possessions and attractiveness to girls, according to Kindlon and Thompson.
  
  

Boys and Intimacy

• Some evidence suggests that, for adolescent girls, intimacy and identity tend to develop together whereas for boys the capacity for intimacy may depend more on attaining a stable identity first, according to Diane E. Papalia, Sally Wendkos Olds, and Ruth Duskin Feldman in their book, "Human Development."