A new study from Girl Scouts of the USA finds that more than half of American girls ages 5 to 13 feel scared about becoming a grown-up, and the anxiety actually grows stronger as girls get older.

The research, conducted by Wakefield Research with 1,000 U.S. girls, puts the number at 54% who say adulthood “sounds scary.” What’s striking isn’t just the overall figure. It’s the age breakdown. Among girls ages 5 to 7, 41% said they felt scared about growing up. That number jumps to 62% among girls ages 8 to 10, and holds steady at 60% among girls ages 11 to 13.

So the closer they get to it, the more daunting it looks.

If you’ve been raising a daughter and assuming she’s counting down the days to more independence, these numbers might surprise you. A lot of us fall into that trap without realizing it. We stop buying the toys too early. We rush past the dress-up phase. We hand over the phone and assume they’re ready for everything that comes with it. But the data says something different: girls this age are paying close attention to the adult world, and a lot of what they see makes them uneasy.

Bonnie Barczykowski, CEO of GSUSA, put it plainly in a press release tied to the study. “This data confirms what we’ve long understood: girls are coming of age in a world that’s changing faster than ever, and they’re carrying the weight of that change while still trying to be kids,” Barczykowski said. “That’s why it’s so important for girls to have supportive adults in their lives, like Girl Scout volunteers, who can help them navigate the world around them, build confidence and develop skills that stay with them as they grow.”

That framing matters for suburban families in particular.

Think about what your daughter sees on any given Tuesday. She hears adult conversations at the dinner table. She picks up on stress. She catches news alerts on your phone. She’s processing a lot more than we give her credit for, and she doesn’t always have the language or the experience to make sense of it. Anxiety fills the gap.

The good news from the study is this: girls aren’t looking to celebrity culture or social media influencers to make sense of the future. According to the full findings covered here, 85% of girls said they look up to others for what they can do, not for how they look. Only 15% said appearance was the thing they admired. That’s a hopeful signal. Your daughter wants role models who are capable and confident, and she’s ready to respond to that kind of mentorship.

Girl Scouts of the USA recommends low-risk ways to help build that confidence at home. Try something new in a different setting. Teach real-world skills in a safe environment. Let her struggle a little with something manageable before the stakes get high. These aren’t complicated interventions. They’re weekend stuff, the kind of thing that happens naturally when a dad lets his daughter change a bike tire, or a mom hands over the grocery list and says “you handle it.”

The Girl Scouts of the USA has tracked data on girls’ development for decades, and this study fits a broader pattern they’ve documented: structured, supportive environments outside the home give girls a place to practice being capable before the real tests arrive.

You don’t have to sign up for a troop to take the lesson home.

What your daughter needs most is adults she trusts and situations that stretch her without breaking her. She doesn’t need to be treated as more grown-up than she is. She doesn’t need her childhood compressed so she’s “ready.” She needs people around her who show her, by example, that adulthood is something you grow into on your own timeline.

The American Psychological Association’s resources on childhood anxiety are worth bookmarking if you want to go deeper on how to talk with kids about fear and stress in age-appropriate ways.

Right now, this spring, let her be exactly where she is. The girl who still wants to stay up late playing board games and needs a hug after a rough day at school isn’t behind. She’s right on time.