The Differences between the Self-Esteem of Boys and Girls During Puberty

The purpose of this study is to examine between obesity and how it causes depression on adolescent girls.

Depression is when an individual has feelings of hopelessness and has very little energy to accomplish tasks; many people have tremendous trouble sustaining an interest in life. In today’s culture, girls have become more depressed in adolescence compared to boys (Stice and Bearman). One of the major influences on why girls are frequently more depressed than boys, is that girls struggle to obtain the perfect body in their own eyes. Findings show that, compared to teen boys, teen girls have higher body shame. Fifty-three percent of adolescent girls reported being dissatisfied with their body after the study (Knauss). Low-self esteem, combined with depression, can potentially be very dangerous for young women.

The age of adolescence has become universally known as an awkward period of growth and socialization. The article “Saplings in the Storm,” by Mary Pipher, was published in 1995 and gives an interesting look into some of the issues faced by adolescent girls, but gives little evidence to support her claims or ways in which to encourage the self-confidence in adolescent girls. More recently, there has been further research looking into the reasons as to why girls become more depressed, endure a decrease in self-esteem, and lose their curiosity after puberty.

They are going through transitions in intellectual development and the process and transition of primary to secondary education.’ There are various intellectual skills that an adolescent will learn within this life stage. When in the adolescent life stage, the emotional development norms for an individual is to learn their personal identity and they must leant about who they are about how to control their emotions within the change of puberty. Low self-esteem and confidence issue is often something most teenagers struggle with. With adolescence secondary learning occurs, a person’s self-worth can change within this life-stage due to the social situations that an individual had to be within, also their use of clothing, language and religion etc. The introduction of hormones can often change how teenagers see themselves. Adolescent’s independence that they go through can affect their social and emotional development.

Puberty is a major transition that all children at some point, will have to go through. It can be a difficult time for both sexes emotionally, socially and physically. Behaviour will change and so will their physical appearance, which may cause them to feel insecure, especially if they are

Puberty in essence is a life changing event for males and females, typically following a time of significant physical growth. Puberty is the stage in life when secondary sex characteristics are developing, sexual organs mature due to production of sex hormones. This naturally occurs during adolescence, the stage in life between childhood and adulthood. Nonetheless, Feldman (2014) points out the fact that physical changes begin earlier for girls typically at the age of 10, with sexual organ development generally around the ages of 11-12. On the other hand, physical changes for boys, frequently occurs later, around the age of 12, with development of sexual organs around the age of 13-14. Nevertheless there has been a trend towards early maturation of both male and females, this can bring about advantages and disadvantages for both sexes (Feldman, 2014). This author will discuss the pros and cons of early versus late maturation in boys versus girls in 21st century U.S. society as well as how media reinforces maturation for pre-teens and teens.

There was not much research going into the topic of gender dysphoria compared to other disorders in children, however, there is evidence that researchers are becoming more and more interested about gender dysphoria and seeing the benefits in putting research into it. There could be a possible connection between depression and gender dysphoria in a way that outside factors influences the onset of depression on adolescents with gender dysphoria, outside factors being gender norms in society, possible events that happen in childhood, and so on. It is not to say that individuals with gender dysphoria automatically have depressive symptoms caused by the disorder itself, but rather it is the outside factors that cause depression to occur in adolescents with gender

“Body image begins to form in grade school because that’s when children/people start comparing themselves to others,” said Dr. Gene Beresin, a child and adult psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical. Body image is how a person perceives themselves, including their imagination, emotional, and physical sensations (The Media and Body Image, 1). Teens that suffer from negative body image let the bad thoughts shatter their self-esteem, the sense of how valuable they are as people (Maynard, 1). The lowered self-esteem may lead to depression, eating disorders, or mental disorders. Bryan Karazsia, the associate professor of psychology at the College of Wooster, said, “Body dissatisfaction is not linked with health. It’s linked with a lot of negative things like eating disorders, unhealthy exercise habits, low self-esteem, and depression.”

Before puberty girls and boys have the same chance of getting depress, after puberty depression rates become much higher in girls. Girls also will have normal mood swings during puberty, but that is not the same as depression.

In today’s society, many adolescent girls are dissatisfied with their body image due to comparing themselves to the media’s unrealistic ideal thin body. Since they grow up in a world filled with mass media such as television, films, magazines, movies, music, newspaper and the Internet, it is very easy to come across this ideal body image (Morris & Katzman, 2003). As teen girls associate with this ideal thinness they tend to be dissatisfied with their own body image, which can put them at risk for serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Kerr 2010). Depression also plays a part in the dissatisfied body image of adolescent girls as well.

This paper is based off of a peer reviewed research article. The construct being assessed is the self-esteem of adolescents. One who has high self-esteem will feel confident and will see themselves as deserving the respect of others. High self-esteem enables the individual to be happy, have lots of energy, stay focused, and to be successful. Low self-esteem can be caused by self-doubt, self-criticism, social isolation, suppressed anger, and shame. This level of self-esteem also is a symptom of several mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression. This study will discuss

Gender differences do have an effect on depression. Girls are more affected with depression than boys because girls develop maturity earlier than boys. When young adolescence girls reach puberty they grow to become more self -conscious of their self- imagine than boys. Boys are more acceptable to their body change such as gaining weight or regaining muscles. In adolescence girls they seem to always compare themselves to others and their never satisfied with their appearance. This can lead to severe eating disorders

Adolescence is a time of various changes. These changes are all part of puberty, and for most adolescents this brings on a sort of embarrassment over their bodies growing and maturing

There are five characteristics that all adolescents have. These characteristics are biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self. The brain and the endocrine system control biological growth and development. During the early stages of adolescence, individuals experience growth in height and weight, changes in the body, the development of sexual characteristics, and skin problems. For example, I started getting curves in my body when I hit puberty. My body started to develop changes. Our society’s expectations for children and adults are clear, but for the adolescent, expectations are inexplicit. Some adolescents are treated like children, but some are treated like adults. There is an undefined status. For example, my parents pay for my lunch, but I have to have a job so I can support myself.

The challenge to adjust to high school life usually corresponds to other moments of development in the adolescent’s life with such changes taking place which include puberty and related concern about body image, changes in social cognition, increased responsibility and decreased dependency on parents (Santrock, 2016). These changes were observed in my teen through certain reports such as how at 13 she was nervous about the transition to high school and worried that her friendships would change. She also experienced physical changes and concern about her body image as at age 14 she expressed being teased about having a flat chest and requesting new kinds of bras to remedy this. This body concern also came as she began gaining some weight during puberty making her refuse to wear certain clothes that she felt accentuated her weight problem. These reports show that this newfound concern about body image that was developed is so significant to adolescents that it tends to