Negative Effects Of Self Esteem

The concept of self esteem is widespread in life. When it comes to academics and extracurricular actives people associate high self esteem is necessary for success. Society makes promoting self esteem an important goal. With that in mind, it is surprising that only recently scientific literature began providing insight into the nature of development of self esteem.

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

With body dissatisfaction comes a sense of low self-esteem. Confidence is often promoted in sexuality and girl-power in media, but there is still a lack of body positivity among these advertisements. Low-self-confidence is an issue among all genders, races, and other demographics. In young girls especially there is a concern that may affect some for the rest of their lives, “Levels of global self-esteem and self-perceptions of physical attractiveness increase throughout adolescence in boys, which is in contrast to the decline witnessed in girls over the same time period” (Lawrie, Sullivan and Davies

In most cases, children with low self-esteem feel that the important adults and peers in their lives do not accept them, do not care about them very much, and would not go out of their way to ensure their safety and well-being. Negative self-esteem is related to low self-confidence, insecurity, underachievement, anxiety, depression, acting-out behavior, sleep problems and being a loner (Yarnell, 1999).

A huge problem with young teens and young adults in today’s time is low self-esteem when it comes to body image. Today’s media and society are giving the false idea of a perfect body image to growing teens and young adults. Young teens and young adults have low-self-esteem resulting in health risks, suicidal thoughts, bullying, and mental issues. I believe there are two main solutions to this problem. We need to encourage parents to teach their children as their growing up that what society says is a perfect body image is false unrealistic body images. Another solution is to have society and the media change the idea of a perfect body. Although, the most common solution for raising self-esteem due to body imagery would be to have children raised

Adolescents experience many changes, both physical and psychological, due to puberty and psychological development (Brown, et al., 2014). They are more susceptible to peer influences and more concerned with how they look compared to pre-adolescent years (Brown, et al., 2014, p. 365). Consequently, body image dissatisfaction is at its peak in adolescents and affects well over half of adolescent females and over a third of adolescent males (Littleton & Ollendick, 2003; Pelegrini & Petroski, 2010). Dissatisfaction with ones’ own body has a multitude of contributing factors and correlates. It affects youth of many body sizes, including those in normal weight and underweight categories, but overweight adolescents fare the worst with 90% being dissatisfied

The thought of oneself is a huge factor in today’s society which leads individuals to make decisions that can affect them drastically. With the ability to alter their body, celebrities who serve as a constant ideal, and peer pressure from school or work, it’s hard not to experience a bit of body image thoughts. Today, efforts made by self-conscious children, teens, and adults to mimic the unrealistic standards of celebrities or television personalities, are increasing and changing many individual’s aspirations.

The standards of beauty never stay the same and have changed over time from one end of the spectrum to the other. With the dramatic changes in what is considered physically attractive, it understandable how it is impossible to reach the goals presented by the media. Now, females are influenced by the growing disparities in the actual body weight compared to the portrayed weight of models, celebrities, and actors to be rail-thin. Girls are raised to focus on their appearance as an indication of their worthiness and the media feeds on this vulnerability. With all the focus on appearance instead of other abilities, girls develop low self-esteem and have an increased of psychiatric disorders, including eating disorders. “[W]e have a lot to learn

There are many controversial thoughts on whether or not the impact of media's portrayal of body images is the reason teenagers have a lower self esteem. Body image is portrayed differently in every culture to show what they perceive as beauty. In society today, teenagers are tremendously affected by the media’s perception of body image causing teenagers to have lower self-esteem because of body image, cosmetic surgeries, and international media.

Over the course of years, teenagers have been drawn to their appearance, spending hours in front of the mirror perfecting every flaw. Children pageants teach girls to see themselves as not good enough without hair extensions, makeup, and acrylic nails creating issues in the future. Magazine articles urge women to lose twenty pounds to benefit themselves by having the fantasy life of a perfect marriage, children and a rewarding career. Studies have shown that a typical American teenager sees at least 5,620 attractiveness messages a year containing the idea of thinness and attractiveness. Teenagers should not be put under so much pressure to be “perfect” because it encourages extreme changes to the body and self harm, leads to bullying, and

A magazine advertisement’s main selling point is a model or the “perfect body” that all girls dream of having. We all think that these advertisements cause no harm. But in reality, teenage girls are developing self-consciousness and sensitivity around their peers. They worry that their shape, size, and muscle tone is all wrong. On womensenews.org, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of “The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls”, states, “The body has become the central personal project of American girls.” A lot of young women start to question themselves, “Am I pretty enough?” or “Am I skinny enough?” Because of these questions, most girls end up depressed or having suicidal thoughts. A 15 year old girl wrote on a website stating that she worries that she’s not good enough.

As each year passes, it is becoming more and more difficult to be an adolescent. Many problems are beginning to arise for teens. Such problems include trying to deal with societal pressures to handling the stresses in life. Without the proper guidance and information, it is easy for the adolescent to veer in the wrong direction. The negative outcomes may include low self-esteem to resorting to eating disorders. Body image is also very important among teens these days. The pressure of trying to attain the “ideal” image is detrimental to some.

For individuals in the adolescent stage, there are many experiences and social pressures that they face daily. In this time of development teenagers are starting to really ask questions like “Who am I?” While teenagers are in search for answers, they are bombarded with certain influential factors that can hinder or help them. Many of the social strains assist in the individual on how to define themselves, and the position of their social stature. One factor that is especially influential in the adolescent community is body image. Body image is an issue that has always been of important consideration for teenagers. How a person looks can determine who they associate with, how they are perceived and represent their way of self-expression.

Children and adolescents with low self-esteem are more likely to have problems with peers (Hymal et al., 1990). Furthermore, they are more prone to psychological

People’s self-esteem either high or low is shaped by their life experiences. I believe a person’s self-esteem begins to take shape at an early age, with their parents being a major influence. Kind, positive, knowledgeable and caring parents help children create a positive self-image. Parents who do not feel good about themselves or others, sometimes take it out on their childern by belittling them or discouraging them. This leads the child down a path of self-doubt and eventually given the right circumstances a lower self-esteem.