Category: Self-Esteem

Introduction

There are several definitions of self-esteem with different sophistication and breadths, but everybody agrees that a state of high self-esteem implies that we appreciate our personality in what we are and are hence proud of ourselves. Being more specific it means that we have a positive attitude, we have faith in our abilities, we value ourselves immensely and we consider ourselves to be competent and in control of life and have the competency to do whatever we wish to do. Tracy Turner has defined self-esteem as appreciating your own work and importance and it helps you to cope better with the challenges of life, We should not consider ourselves to be inferior in any way since a low self-esteem implies conditions of depression, helplessness and powerlessness. There are several attempts on a continuous basis by governments and institutions to find ways and means to increase self esteem amongst people, but the fact remains that majority of people often suffer pangs of low self-esteem that lowers their performance and happiness levels and if such pattern exists on a consistent basis, it can lead to prolonged depression in people.

Main body

I think that it is correct to say that our self-esteem has immense implications for our life and our future growth as also in meeting our objectives of life. The history of self-esteem begins with early childhood and continues throughout life by effecting the decisions that we make, and needs to be tended to on a regular basis just as a plant requires to be done. A typical example of self-esteem is when we go ahead in setting a career profile for ourselves. I believe that it is perfectly in order to set goals for ourselves in keeping with our life aspirations since it is our own choice which matters ultimately in bringing us satisfaction and a sense of achievement. A career decision may require us to go against the family wishes or it may be against the social way of doing things, but if we have the courage and determination in achieving even the most difficult of tasks, we must go ahead with the same. Experts are of the opinion that everybody enjoys the benefits of high self-esteem and that it often acts as a support during times when life poses difficult and painful situations by way of rejections, failures and disappointments and gives us strength in coping with these difficult times. We have all experienced that life is not a bed of roses and that despite our best efforts we sometimes fail or are not given fair treatment at the hands of people around us, and it is during such downturns that a state of high self-esteem helps us to tide over the difficult moments.

Self-esteem is often referred to as the social vaccine, which entails human personality as being empowered and inoculated against a wide spectrum of self defeating and socially undesirable behaviors. In this context, the family is considered a strong force in developing self-esteem, since the earlier years of childhood are the founding years when an authentic and abiding self-esteem is sown by the culture prevailing in the family. Hence a high self-esteem in parents is an important factor in nurturing personal effectiveness from the childhood years, which eventually builds up into a high self-esteem. Thereafter the climate in the school has an important bearing on the child in developing self-confidence, and I believe that people who have such traits are less prone to engaging in destructive habits such as drugs, alcohol, child abuse, crime and violence. Young girls who have a high self-esteem are less likely to stray into situations that lead them to become pregnant during the teen years. I strongly believe that self-esteem is not something that can be given to some one as a commodity or gift. In fact it has to be nurtured and sought in the same way as we earn our respect or our reputation by making efforts. Self-esteem is a common term used in referring to people who display qualities of being connected with lots of people, of being assertive, competent, unique and who have a high sense of security, Such people are spiritually inclined and have full faith in themselves.

Building self-esteem is a continuous process in life and it is not a particular target to achieve. A person with low self-esteem has to build on it to get more happiness in life. We all have the right to respect ourselves as also to be respected and if we have the will there is nothing to stop us from having a high self-esteem. We need to put our behavior in perspective and not condemn ourselves for the disappointments and failures that we face. It is important for us to understand that there are many aspects of our personality and that the present negative results are the results of our current behavior patterns which can of course be changed to get better results in due course. Hence there is no point in believing that because of current mistakes we are useless. There is certainly an alternative that we need to implement by first halting all destructive thoughts and convincing ourselves that we too are important in our own rights. One should start thinking as having all the rights, ideas and opinions as others have, which will go a long way in improving self-esteem. We should accentuate positive thoughts by avoiding to repeatedly ponder over our failures and should instead make attempts to change our strategies in working over the job again by concentrating on correcting things which went wrong.

One area in which people have low self-esteem is when they deal with giving or receiving criticism since both situations have a very negative impact in a persons ability to cope with such situations. Sometimes criticism is justified and we need to do ourselves justice in accepting the same and during such times it proves to be a learning process. It is wise to deal with criticism so that we benefit from it. To deal positively with criticism we must listen to it without interruption and agree to the points that are true, ask for clarification and if wrong we must agree and apologize for the same. If the criticism is wrong we must refute the charges and assertively declare that we dont agree. This may appear difficult but with practice we can overcome the pangs of criticism. Giving criticism is considered a negative quality but sometimes it has to be done to assert ourselves in given situations. To be able to criticize at the right moment one must have a calm composure and criticize at the right moment by being tactful in criticizing the act and not the person, which will go a long way in conveying respect for the person. A big catch in venting criticism is to use I instead of you since by doing so we convey that we are in control. Instead of saying you made me feel bad, it is better to say I felt bad. This way we do not offend people and convey the message of our disagreement without any ill feelings, thus putting us in a higher position, which implies higher self-esteem. We need to stand up for ourselves by saying no when we want to without having any feeling of guilt. I have observed that it is people with low self-esteem who are unable to be assertive in saying no and often get pressurized into doing things that they dont wish to do. It is imperative that this kind of pattern in ones personality must be altered if one is to have value in being happy and contented. Self-esteem is something, which we cannot touch, but it affects how we feel. We cannot see it but it is right there when we look at ourselves in the mirror. We cannot hear it but it is very much there when we talk about ourselves. Indeed it is a mysterious thing but very essential to keep us in high spirits.

References

David V Sheslow, The Story on Self esteem, 2008, Web.

Marilyn Sorensen, Breaking the Chain of Low Self Esteem, 1998, Wolf Publishing Company

Nathaniel Branden, How to Raise Your Self Esteem, 1988, Bantam. Tracy Turner, Mental Health-Emotional Health, 2008. Web.

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the literature on the problem of dyslexia and its relationship to childrens and adolescents academic achievements and self-esteem. The purpose of this literature review is to analyze, compare, and contrast the recent studies on the topic and identify possible interventions to cope with the discussed learning disability. This paper also presents the implications for future research on the topic. The findings of the literature review are summarized in the conclusion of the paper.

Introduction

Dyslexia is a learning disability that is characterized by persons impaired skills in reading and spelling words. The researchers state that this disability is of a neurobiological origin (Swanson, Harris, & Graham, 2013). Those children and adolescents who are diagnosed with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with reading because of their impossibility to recognize, decode, and spell words (Armstrong & Squires, 2015). The preliminary review of the literature has allowed for identifying two specific relationships associated with the topic. Thus, students can have problems with their learning as a result of experienced difficulties, and this disability can affect their academic performance (Kaluyu & Ooko, 2016).

Furthermore, according to many studies on the topic, dyslexia can also influence students self-esteem (Armstrong & Squires, 2015). Although the relationships between dyslexia and academic achievements or dyslexia and students self-esteem are mentioned by some researchers, little attention is paid to this topic, and the purpose of this literature review is to discuss these two relationships in detail with the focus on some proposed interventions and applications which can have an effect on the correlation between dyslexia, academic achievements, and self-esteem.

Statement of the Problem

In spite of the fact that the analysis of relationships between such learning disability as dyslexia and students academic achievements or between dyslexia and students self-esteem is presented in several studies, there is still a need for a complex discussion of the problem with the focus on three mentioned aspects which can be directly connected with each other. From this perspective, the focus question which guides this literature review is the following one: What is the relationship between dyslexia, academic achievements, and students self-esteem? In this review, it is important to focus on analyzing the literature which provides the information regarding the correlation between dyslexia, students academic performance, and possible changes in their self-esteem caused by problems with reading as well as academic achievements.

In spite of researchers interest in this problem, there is still a gap in discussions of these phenomena with the focus on their connectedness. The problem is in the fact that those children and adolescents who suffer from dyslexia can fail to cope with tasks that require reading, and this aspect can influence their academic achievements. Furthermore, these difficulties or failures can provoke certain reactions in students and changes in their self-esteem (Armstrong & Squires, 2015; Novita, 2016). This problem requires further discussion with the focus on the analysis of recent studies in the field.

Literature Review and Analysis

The term dyslexia and its definition were proposed in the 1880s (Armstrong & Squires, 2015). Today, this term is used to define individuals inabilities to decode letters and read words. In spite of primary effects of this learning disability associated with students difficulties with reading, researchers also identify secondary effects or consequences, such as low grades and the affected self-esteem, as well as low self-confidence, and high levels of anxiety among other changes (Novita, 2016; Swanson et al., 2013). These secondary effects of dyslexia on students and their performance should be discussed in detail.

Dyslexia and Academic Achievements

In spite of the fact that reading skills are viewed as important to affect students performance at school, there are only a few studies that discuss dyslexia as influencing individuals academic achievements (Armstrong & Squires, 2015). As a result of their study, Kaluyu and Ooko (2016) have found that there is a statistically significant relationship between dyslexia and academic achievements of students from Kenya who were diagnosed with this learning disability. According to the researchers, those students who study at primary school and suffer from dyslexia experience problems with reading, spelling, writing, and structuring sentences. Their comprehension of any text is also limited.

As a result, the academic performance of these students is lower in comparison to the achievements of their classmates (Kaluyu & Ooko, 2016).

These findings are also supported by the conclusions made by Rimkute, Torppa, Eklund, Nurmi, and Lyytinen (2014), who stated in their earlier research that students dyslexia could be discussed as a factor to predict their academic success. Similar findings were also proposed by Armstrong and Squires (2015). Thus, the researchers are inclined to agree that dyslexia can significantly influence students academic performance.

In their work, Swanson et al. (2013) also cite the researchers who have found that there is a direct relationship between students ability to read and their success in learning. According to Novita (2016), the problem is in the fact that this disorder, which is associated with the language deficit, can prevent students from understanding instructions, perceiving and learning the materials, and completing tasks. As a result, students begin to experience problems not only in reading but also in performing all activities associated with learning, as it is noted by Armstrong and Squires (2015). These ideas are in line with the conclusions made by Rimkute et al. (2014), who have stated in their article that students often concentrate on their possible failure, and these childrens expectations regarding their academic achievements decrease along with their grades.

Dyslexia and Self-Esteem

Different studies report that self-esteem of students with dyslexia is usually lower in comparison to the self-esteem of students who have no such problems, and possible reasons are not only high expectations of teachers and parents but also low academic achievements of students with learning disabilities (Rimkute et al., 2014). According to Novita (2016), there is a positive correlation between students condition and their self-esteem. Furthermore, Swanson et al. (2013) add to this discussion while stating that the usual cause of these students low self-esteem is their academic performance.

However, in their work, Armstrong and Squires (2015) put emphasis on another direction of the relationship between dyslexia, academic achievements, and self-esteem of students. According to the authors, dyslexia can affect students self-esteem, and then, their academic performance becomes also influenced. Thus, when children experience failures while trying to read texts, their self-esteem becomes lower, and they can stop trying to improve their academic results. Armstrong and Squires (2015) note in their work, a vicious circle is created in which failure leads to further erosion of self-belief and self-esteem and this, in turn, leads to more resistance to learning (p. 87). Still, the relationship between dyslexia and self-esteem also has other dimensions to discuss.

As it is noted by Rimkute et al. (2014), both students and their parents are inclined to consider childrens capacities as low, and this aspect influences individuals self-esteem because students do not view themselves as able to learn better.

In contrast to discussing the problem of the relationship between dyslexia and self-esteem in general and accentuating changes in the self-confidence with reference to both school and family contexts, Novita (2016) focuses on the idea that students with dyslexia usually experience problems at school, and their vision is affected in school environments when they communicate with teachers and peers and demonstrate their inability to learn effectively. On the contrary, in their families, these students are often supported by parents and other relatives, and there are no problems with students self-esteem in this context.

Effective Interventions and Instructional Implications

In order to cope with students problems with learning caused by dyslexia and contribute to increasing their motivation and self-esteem, researchers propose different interventions. According to Novita (2016), students with dyslexia should receive a specific treatment at school in order to address their learning disabilities. Furthermore, special treatment and certain educational and psychological interventions, including therapies, are important to improve students achievements, help them adapt to their learning situation, and increase their self-esteem (Armstrong & Squires, 2015).

In spite of the reported positive effects of interventions on students learning and perceptions of their abilities, Kaluyu and Ooko (2016) also refer to the importance of changing policies in educational institutions in order to implement certain interventions. Thus, the researchers note that the principles of teaching students with dyslexia, creating curricula, and providing their assessments should be reflected in clearly formulated policies (Kaluyu & Ooko, 2016). The implementation of interventions is directly connected with the application of certain instructions to be used by teachers while working with students who have dyslexia.

The instructions proposed by teachers for students with dyslexia should follow certain criteria in order to contribute to childrens learning and improving their performance. Thus, according to the researchers, the instructions for students with learning disabilities should be systematic, concise, explicit, and adapted to their needs (Armstrong & Squires, 2015). However, Novita (2016) pays attention to the fact that, while speaking about students self-esteem, more aspects should be covered by instructions and adopted interventions.

According to Novita (2016), educators should understand that students with dyslexia usually develop more problems than only difficulties in reading and therefore classroom management, task distribution, instruction of the task, and other scholastic activities should take into account this condition as an important factor (p. 9).

From this point, although the opinions of researchers regarding interventions and instructional implications are different in some aspects, the importance of interventions to address the problem of teaching students with dyslexia, as well as increasing their academic performance and self-esteem, is supported by studies on the topic.

Implications for Future Research

The discussed topic which is associated with the relationship between dyslexia, childrens academic achievements, and their self-esteem can be viewed as important for students, their families, and teachers. The reason is that many students who have dyslexia face difficulties while completing school assignments, and their self-esteem decreases (Armstrong & Squires, 2015; Swanson et al., 2013). Students and parents should know what interventions and strategies are available to address this problem.

Furthermore, teachers should become aware of this relationship and identify and use specific practices to cope with the problem at school. Nevertheless, this research is not enough to cover all aspects of the determined problem, and future research on the topic is needed.

The relationship between dyslexia, students academic performance, and their self-esteem is complex, and it requires the further discussion of the question with the focus on how teachers and parents can cooperate to decrease secondary effects of dyslexia on childrens vision of themselves and their successes. Moreover, it is also important to study what role in affecting students learning and self-esteem is played by different environments. In this review, little attention is paid to analyzing the situation when childrens self-esteem at home and at school differs, and this aspect requires the further examination. From this point, future research is important in order to discuss the problem from several perspectives and provide students, their relatives, and teachers with appropriate recommendations.

Conclusion

The review of the literature on the relationship between dyslexia, students academic progress, and their self-esteem has provided the researcher with opportunities to examine the relationship between dyslexia and academic achievements, the relationship between dyslexia and self-esteem, and possible interventions for addressing the problem. The literature review has provided the answer to the question about the relationship between dyslexia and problems in students academic performance and self-confidence.

Thus, according to the reviewed studies, there is a direct positive correlation between the progress of dyslexia and changes in students academic performance. Problems in learning caused by dyslexia are associated with low academic achievements. Furthermore, low grades and problems at school are in correlation with students self-esteem which tends to decrease when students grades are low. In addition, there is also an adverse relationship when childrens low self-esteem can provoke their problems with learning. In order to address these issues, researchers propose psychological and educational interventions to provide students with appropriate instructions and therapies.

References

Armstrong, D., & Squires, G. (2015). Key perspectives on dyslexia: An essential text for educators. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kaluyu, V., & Ooko, P. (2016). The relationship between reading dyslexia and academic performance of upper primary pupils in public schools in Changamwe Sub-County, Kenya. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 4(5), 21-30. Web.

Novita, S. (2016). Secondary symptoms of dyslexia: A comparison of self-esteem and anxiety profiles of children with and without dyslexia. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 31(2), 279-288. Web.

Rimkute, L., Torppa, M., Eklund, K., Nurmi, J. E., & Lyytinen, H. (2014). The impact of adolescents dyslexia on parents and their own educational expectations. Reading and Writing, 27(7), 1231-1253. Web.

Swanson, H. L., Harris, K. R., & Graham, S. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of learning disabilities (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

ABSTRACT

Self-esteem has been described as the positive or negative attitudes and beliefs that a person holds about themselves, an evaluation of the emotional value and worth of self. Self-esteem is closely linked to social identity – by identifying with a group / gender, an association with the prestige and status of that group in society impacts on one’s own concept of self. The aim of this research is to establish if there is a gender difference between males and females on self-esteem. With the objective of understanding what if any gender difference exists on self esteem both actual and perceived, a number of University of Newcastle students were asked to participate in an online questionnaire. They recorded their responses when asked to imagine they are someone else. Sample consisted of 478 students, involving 235 males and 243 females. Participant were asked to complete an online survey responding to self-esteem inventory under 2 different conditions, (1) males and females imagining themselves to be someone of the same sex and (2) imagining they are the opposite sex. The data were analysed using SPSS. t-test has been conducted to find out the mean difference between the groups on self-esteem. From the results it can be seen that gender difference from the on self-esteem is statistically different.

As described by (APA, 2000) Self-esteem is stated to be the emotional evaluation of attitude towards the self that influences a persons mood and affects their behaviour. It has been recognised that self-esteem is an essential element of psychological wellbeing. It is thought to be a uniquely human experience in the development of the overall concept of self. For example the concept of self as outlined by Duval and Wicklund, (1972) in two catagories, subjective awareness where you know yourself to be an object like a Car or a phone is an object and the other a more subjective view of oneself. So making comparisons of who you are and how you would like to be. One of the main factors that differentiating humans from animals is the awareness of self: to form an identity and then attach a value to it. This is used to describe a person’s overall sense of self-worth or self-value. Self-esteem is often seen as a personality trait, which means that it tends to be stable and enduring. It can involve a variety of believes about the self, such as the appraisal about one’s own appearance, believes, emotions and behaviour. Self esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. Self esteem is a very important factor that determines an individual’s personality. Emerging adulthood is extremely important stage in building up one’s own identity and esteem.

Healthy self-esteem is based on ability to assess ourselves accurately and still be accepting to who we are. There are different domains in self-esteem. This effects self-esteem and how it grows in an adolescent.

• Physical appearance: Appearance is more important to girls’ self-esteem than to boys’, with body image a strong predictor of global self-esteem in ladies compared to men (Allgood-Merten, Lewinsohn, & Hops (1990)). In teen years girls’ self-esteem is more vulnerable than boys because they are more concerned about their bodies. This if not corrected may lead in adulthood and may cause the lady to lose more weight.
• Athletics: Even among children who play sports boys’ tend to have more athletes self-esteem. They believe they are more competitive. Theoretical models support that males will score more in athletic self-esteem than on females.
• Academics: Females prepare more and perform better academically and receive better grades than their male peers (Pomerantz, Altermatt, & Saxon (2002).). But this is not always true, when boys’ outperform girls’ the lady self-esteem suffers but when females perform at a higher level their self-esteem does not increase. Even in gifted children it is seen that girls’ outperform boys’.
• Social Acceptance: friendships, social relationships and peer relations ships are very important to build self-esteem.
• Family: the family can play a major role in the development of self-esteem and can help in affirming a child’s worth.
• Personal Self: it is one’s own evaluation about one self apart from the physical body and relationship with others.

Studies show that there is difference in self-esteem between males and females during adolescence. The most common difference is that males tend to have a higher self-esteem through the teen age years and continue into adulthood. Generally speaking, when it tends to drop, male’s self-esteem will not drop as low as female self-esteem, and a males positive feelings about self are likely to be much more stronger than female self-esteem (Robins et.al.2002). Recent mete-analysis and studies, however, have found that male adolescents and young adults have higher self esteem than their female counter parts, although the difference is relatively small (Bachman et al. 2011; Feingold 1994; Kling et al. 1999; Robins et al. 2002).

Emerging adulthood is a phase between adolescence and full-fledge adulthood which encompasses late adolescence and early adulthood (Arnett 2000). Arnett suggest emerging adulthood is the distinct period between 18 to 25 years of age where they explore various possibilities of life. The environment or the place of residence in which they raised contribute profoundly to the development of self-esteem, which includes school, home, neighbourhood, church etc.

Objective

To verify gender difference on self-esteem among under graduate students.

Hypothesis

• There will be significant gender difference on self- esteem among undergraduate students.
• There will be significant mean difference on self- esteem on the basis of place of residence.
• There will be significant mean difference on self- esteem on the basis of year of study.

METHOD

Sample of the study consisted of 120 students, 60 males and 60 females, equally drawn from 2nd year and 3rd year undergraduate courses of arts and science colleges of Ernakulum District, Kerala. They belong to the age group of 19-21 years. The participants from Urban/Rural areas were equally included in the study.

The instrument used for the study is Rosenberg’s self- esteem scale (RSES) developed by Dr. Morris Rosenberg. It measures both the positive and negative feelings about the self. This is the most widely used scale to measure global self-esteem. All items are answered using a 4 point Likert scale format ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale presented high ratings in reliability areas and is closely connected with the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory.

Data was analysed using SPSS. t-test has been done to find out the mean difference on self esteem between the male and female under graduate student.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In the present study the investigator has made an attempt to explore gender difference on self-esteem among under graduate students. The data obtained from the respondents were scored appropriately and analysed to draw a meaningful inference on the obtained data.

The scores of self esteem were analysed using the t-test to see if there is any considerable mean difference on the gender basis.

The results given indicate that there is significant gender difference on self esteem. It is also seen that adolescent girls seem to have higher self-esteem than boys. It is during this period of development, adolescent girls mainly build their self-esteem and self-concept. During late adolescence and early adulthood girls tend to develop a sense of self. In accordance to the culture it might be possible that girls to have a higher level of self-esteem. They seem to be highly confident about their appearance and the way they carry themselves. This result might be also due to the high maturity level of girls.

Researches show that there are quite a number of reasons to feel this way. Girls seem to perform academically higher and this may also cause a rise in self esteem. They also are seem to have a sense of accomplishment and are able to do things better than the rest. Boys on the other hand may feel inadequate in many areas. At this age, it is a time when young men try to find their way and create their identity. It is when they do not get such a chance and do not get the kind of respect and acceptance from the society that they feel negatively motivated and a decrease in the level of self-esteem.

The environmental conditions and the surroundings that we live in contribute a major role in our self-esteem. It is seen in the above table that the sample residing in the rural area has higher level of self-esteem than those from urban areas. This may be due to the life style difference in rural and urban residence. People residing in the rural areas seem to be having a higher level of self-esteem. There may be many factors to contribute to this finding. Facing the realities of life and getting to engage in daily life activities may be a cause. Nowadays living in the rural population is not as difficult as it used to be. People are average on socio economic status and are working on a day today basis. Modern gadgets are on a hike with the rural community. Those who belong to rural area are more effective and efficient in dealing with the opportunities and resources. This in turn helps them in being independent and developing a higher self-esteem.

The result can also be assigned due to the impaired social interaction opportunities of urban residents comparatively. t-test has been conducted to find out the difference in self esteem between 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates.

From the table it is evident that there exists no significant difference between 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students selected for the study. Since they belong to the age group of 19-21 years, there is not much difference in their self-esteem. They may have a different perspective on the view of ideas but generally have the same level of self-esteem.

Hypothesis 1 is accepted as it is found that there exists a significant mean difference between the two groups on self-esteem. Hypothesis 2 is also accepted as the mean difference is significant. Hypothesis 3 is rejected as it was found that the mean difference is not significant.

CONCLUSION

The present study focuses on whether there exists any gender difference on self-esteem among undergraduate students. Factors like the residential area and year of study of the participant is also taken into account. Findings of this study suggest that, gender difference on self-esteem among undergraduate students is significant. There is a considerable difference as girls stand high in self esteem. There is also significant difference in self esteem among students who live in the rural and urban areas. Children from the rural areas have a higher self-esteem. It is also seen that there is no significant mean difference between 2nd and 3rd year students.

REFERENCES

1. Allgood-Merten, B., Lewinsohn, P. M., & Hops, H. (1990). Sex differences and adolescent Depression. Journal of abnormal psychology, 99, 55-63.
2. American Psychatry Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental Disorders (4thed, text revision). Washington, DC: American Psychatry Association.
3. Arnett, Jeffery Jenson (2000). “Emerging adulthood: a theory of development from the late teens” American Psychology.
4. Bachman, J. G., O’ Malley, P. M., Freedman-Doan, P., & Donnelan, M. B. (2010). Adolesent Self-esteem: Difference by race, ethnicity, gender and age. Self and identity.
5. Douvan, E.,Adelson, J. The Adolescent Experience. Wiley, New York; 1966.
6. Hall, G .A. in: Adolescence. Vols. I & II. Prentice-Hall, ENGLEWOOD Cliffs, NJ; 1904.
7. Kling, K. C., Hyde, J. S., Showers, c. J., & Buswell, B. N. (1999). Gender difference in self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 125, 470-500.
8. Pomerantz, E. M., Altermatt, E. R., & Saxon, L. J. (2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed: Gender differences in academic performances and internal distress. Journal of educational psychology, 94, 396-404 .
9. Robins, R. W., Trzesniewski, K. H. Tracy, J. L., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2002). Global self-esteem across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 17, 423-434.
10. Rosenburg, M. (1986). Self-concept from middle childhood to adolescence. In J. Suls & A.G. Greenwald (Eds), Psychological perspectives on the self (PP 107-136) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

Social media is a platform that keeps growing every single day. It is a complex platform that is used by millions of people and at this point, it is hard to even imagine a life without social media. Social media is a platform where people get to connect with anyone from around the world with just a click. This is now a platform where people post about themselves or their businesses and connect with others they know personally and even strangers. Some people start new relations over the internet. It is a virtual reality that is becoming more of a fake reality as platforms like Instagram has a lot of ‘Influencers’ in the present who post unrealistic images that have now become the definition of beauty.

Self-esteem, on the other hand, is what you feel about yourself. This can be altered by many external factors as well as internal factors. This can also influence everything you do in your life. Self-esteem and self-liking are things that are important in every person’s life. This could motivate or demotivate a person. It is important to understand what could alter a person’s self-esteem especially if it is a part of your everyday life.

In the literature contradicting the uni-dimensional characteristics of self-esteem (Tafarodi & Swann, 2001), we see insights into a two-dimensional view of self-esteem. This literature is in aims to prove that self-esteem, in general, consists of two factors: namely self-competence and self-liking. They explore this hypothesis by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) & multitrait-multimethod approach. The literature discusses how the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) makes these two varied dimensions as two interdependent factors and not standalone dimensions. Therefore, they’ve used a revised version of a scale (Self-Liking/Self-Competence Scale-Revised Version (SLCS-R)) with the aim to understand the two dimension of self-competence. There are varied factors that could affect the self-esteem of a person, but through the analysis of the data received from the revised test that included items that focused on a single dimension rather than the generalised concept of self-esteem, the results prove the hypothesis that self-esteem consists of two varied dimensions: self-competence and self-liking. The results also bring in the possibility of another dimension of self-esteem which has not been explored in this study. This study was only conducted on a few students of the University of Toronto, therefore, the sample size isn’t sufficient enough to be generalized.

One of the earlier works of literature studying the different impacts and relations between social media and self-esteem in relation to social comparison. This study (Vogel et al., 2014) focused on the effects that social media platforms like Facebook have on the self-esteem of people. This study analysed the participants with respect to the amount of exposure to content on social media and the type of content they were exposed to. The results concluded that participants who used Facebook more had a lower sense of self-esteem in comparison to the subsidiary participants. In the second test that was conducted, the results showed that exposure to upward comparison diminished participants self-esteem more than the exposure to toward comparison. So this study focused on intensity and type. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to administer the needful. Mainly noted limitation of this test would include the fact that the test was done in a short period where they were unable to administer the effect of different types of exposure with more than one item. The study was also administered on a small scale of participants, hence the diversity is lacking.

Another literature that focused on the effects of using Facebook on people’s self-esteem was done by (Jan et al., 2017). The paper manifestly aims at providing proof to explain the impact Facebook has on self-esteem. In this study, the hypothesis states that receding self-esteem can be associated with the use and exposure to social media platforms. Regression and correlation are used to study the relationship between the two variables. The experiment was administered on a few students studying in IoBM in Karachi. The results are conclusive of the fact that the relationship between the time spent on social media and diminishing self-esteem is correlated and has a negative relation. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used to administer the results for this test. This literature faces some concerning limitations. Due to time restraints, the sample scale was small and the participants were not supervised while they were filling in the questionnaire, therefore the credibility and truthfulness of the participants can only be assumed.

Supporting the finds of the previous pieces of literature, we explore another study based on Facebook. (Burrow & Rainone, 2017) delve into the world of likes and affirmation on the platform of Facebook. This study is a little dissimilar to the previous studies as it scrutinizes the impact of affirmation and its consequences. Results from three tests were taken into consideration to analyse and get to a conclusion Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Mini- IPIP, Life engagement Test). Another variable considered in this study is a higher sense of purpose in life or merely purposefulness. Results showed that the number of likes on selfies or self-portraits of the participants with a higher life purpose did not distress their self-esteem as much as it did with the other participants. Concerning the correlation analysed, there was a slight decline in self-esteem but it is not as evident as the other participants. Therefore, proving the hypothesis that likes received on social media on personal posts affects self-esteem. More likes mean more reaffirmation, which increases self-esteem while a low number of likes means a decline in self-esteem.

Further, a study that evaluates the effect of social media on self-esteem and paranoia in psychosis done by (Berry et al., 2018) reconnoitres a more clinical aspect of this. The first hypothesis suggests that the mere use of social media will result in low self-esteem and high paranoia. The second hypothesis discusses the effect of social media with context to what type of user the participant is. It suggests that passive users, meaning that the participant consumes content, would have a negative effect on them: low mood, self-esteem and high paranoia. Contrary to that, active users, insinuating participants who post and is active and vocal on social media. Five tests were done to find results associated with the hypotheses. The experiment was administered mainly on participants who were previously labelled with psychosis and participants who had already addressed concerns regarding social media, therefore this study cannot be generalised. Opposing the hypotheses, the analysis of the results from all the tests proves that social does not have a significant effect on the self-esteem of a person.

In conclusion, most of the previously discussed papers were done on a small scale of people and so cannot be generalized. Contrary to that, these studies were done in different parts of the world, so that gives us insight into different samples. Correspondingly, all the studies that focused on the effect of social media on self-esteem were only done in context to Facebook and in the present day, Instagram is a more prominent and is a bigger contributor of content that could alter self-esteem. Being a platform that is based mainly off of only pictures, the number of likes and other factors could influence and alter a person’s self-esteem more than it was learned with regards to Facebook. Hence, future studies need to focus on the limitations that have been understood from the prior discussions. The sample scale needs to be enhanced to a wider area including diverse people in order to compare and contrast with respect to cultural differences too. These studies could be centred on Instagram as the main social media platform. If the content viewed by the participant is to be altered, the participant should be exposed to more than one item. The positive and negative impacts of social media on self-esteem should be studied in more detail to understand the harm this platform does to people of all ages; to understand if there are ways this can be controlled or altered. As social media is a vast spread platform that keeps advancing every moment, future studies need to focus on a wider range of people with expectations to get a broader and clearer perspective of the impact of social media on self-esteem.

Self Confidence and Self Esteem is the key to success, or we can say, the first step to success. If one has confidence about something, he can surely achieve it, as my teacher has rightly said, “Our lives are moved by our actions, which take form by our thoughts”. So, if a person is confident about something, if he thinks he can accomplish his aim, he thinks that his dreams will be fulfilled, he can make this world a better place and he is unstoppable, he will surely be unstoppable, unbeatable, and in the end he will be what he thinks is successful. Self esteem and self worth is equally important for every person, it makes you realize how important you are, not only to others, but also for yourself. It helps you in believing yourself and relying on your own abilities. Self love is essential for a happy and contended life. The fact that nobody is perfect is not easy to accept but it is very important to embrace the flaws, disabilities, scars, bad past, and all the other imperfections of you and telling yourself that you are special, unique and a valuable person.

However, building self esteem is a very difficult task to do for many people, so it was for me too. When I was 10, I used to be very confident and lively kid, but still I didn’t have enough confidence to say NO to the things which were against my will. Afterwards, in my early teens, my confidence started to fade, the amount of criticism about my speech, body language, accent and other things from my mates was increasing day by day, I still couldn’t figure out if those words were due to jealousy or I was bad in real? Those criticisms reduced my participations in school’s extracurricular activities, and other events. I always got position in my class, and this was the only thing I was confident about, but my confidence transformed into over confidence in no time. One shall always know the difference between confidence and over confidence, as confidence is the elevator towards success whereas over confidence is a strong push downstairs. After my bad grades in my matriculation, I felt below the ground, this happened due to my over confidence. I had no idea what to do next, still I chose my desired field of education in intermediate, but it also went terrible. I had bad grades, I was gaining weight, had no work to do, I personally didn’t like myself. I had a very low self esteem at that time, I felt like everything I do or related to me will end up bad. I used to hate my appearance, my art and myself. I hated my existence.

Fortunately, I used to share my thoughts with one of my cousins who helped me about this issue after listening to me. He showed me how I am better than many people, he told me that my arts are great, he forced me to surround myself with the positive people and not the negative ones, he made me realize how important self love is, after which I concentrated on myself, started reading blogs, researched about my condition, tried to get myself into shape, and one day I read the following on the internet; “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”, Eleanor Roosevelt. Later, I felt myself improving, and I started to believe that NO is my birth right, and I will always keep on believing in myself no matter what happens, but I was unsure if I am doing this right. But as soon as I took admission in IUAC, fortunately, I got course of Personal Development, I realized that I was doing great, and I wish to learn more and improve myself.

Self-esteem is defined as the positive or negative feelings that we have about ourselves. It can also be seen as the measurement of confidence in our own abilities. More positive feelings in ourselves have been found to be correlating with higher self-esteem and more negative feelings about ourselves correlating with lower self-esteem. One can usually experience positive feelings of high self-esteem when there is a strong belief that they are “worthy” and “good” and that other people also view them in these positive ways. An individual can experience low self-esteem, which is associated with the negative belief that they are less worthy than their peers and are greatly inadequate.

I believe one’s self-esteem can be determined by many contributing factors, these include, how well that individual views their appearance as well as their own performance, as well as how satisfied they are with their relationships with others in their lives. Self-esteem can be considered in part a personal trait that is usually stable throughout that individual’s life span, with some individuals having relatively high self-esteem compared to others and the rest having a lower self-esteem. However, self-esteem is not static and is more of a dynamic trait. It is a state that can vary from day to day and even hour to hour and from situation to situation. What do we do when we have completed and succeeded at an important job, when we have done something that we deem to be useful or important, or even when we feel accepted or valued by the people around us? We evaluate ourselves based on those abilities and produce our own self-concept that will contain accumulated positive thoughts from all of those experiences equally. and we will then have produced a high self-esteem in ourselves. However, if these same situations had produced the opposite effects, let’s say we hadn’t succeed an important job, or done something useful, or are not values or accepted by the people around us, we start to have the belief of failure, that we have done something harmful, or even begin to feel that we have been criticized or ignored by the people around us, producing the opposite negative beliefs that tie into a self-concept that we are more ashamed of and ultimately experiencing low self-esteem.

Social psychology is all about understanding individual behavior in a social context. It can be defined as, a scientific field that looks for ways to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations’ It therefore looks at human behavior as influenced by other people and the social context in which this occurs. Social psychologists are people who deal with the factors that lead us to behave in a given way in the presence of others, and they look at the conditions under which certain behavior/actions and feelings take place at a given time. Social psychology has to do with the way these feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions and goals are constructed and how such psychological factors ultimately influence our interactions with others.

For my individual assignment, I will be making the connection between these two important criteria to the human world, that is, social interactions and self-esteem. I will be discussing five research articles and their findings on the influences between the two as well as the methods and experiments conducted to come to a conclusion of whether or not there is an influence between the two and what exactly some of those influences are. I will also discover this influence from a social psychologist’s standpoint.

Literature Review

My first empirical psychology article titled, “The Link Between Self-Esteem and Social Relationships: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies”, the question of whether having close friends can boost an individual’s self-esteem, or does having high self-esteem influence the quality of your friendships, was asked. According to a meta-analysis of over two decades of research, published by the American Psychological Association, both are true. They now have a systematic answer to a very important question in the field of self-esteem research. This question being, whether or not and to what extent a person’s social relationships influence his or her self-esteem development, and vice versa, and at what exact ages this influence can be found to take place. It is believed that the answer to what age groups, is that this influence takes place all along an individual’s life span. (Harris et al., Ulrich et al. 2019).

The research on this topic was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Harris and her co-author, Ulrich Orth, PhD, of the University of Bern, were able to analyze 52 studies including more than 47,000 participants (with 54% of those participants being female). They were looking at the effect of self-esteem on social relationships over time or the opposite effect. These studies were all published between 1992 and 2016 and included multiple countries (these include 30 samples from the United States, three from Germany, two from Australia, four from Switzerland, Russia, Finland, Belgium, Greece, Canada, and Sweden). Participants were 60% white, 19% mixed ethnicities, 12% predominantly of another ethnicity, and 2% Hispanic/Latino. Their ages ranged from early childhood to late adulthood. It was found that positive social relationships, social support and social acceptance helped shape the development of self-esteem in people over time between ages 4 and 76. Also found was a great effect in the opposite direction. Even though earlier research had produced inconsistent findings, the meta-analysis supported the classic theories on the influence of self-esteem on social connections and the influence of social connections on self-esteem. These findings were also found to be the same after accounting for the participants gender and ethnicity. It is believed that the reciprocal link found between self-esteem and social relationships implied that the effects of a positive feedback loop accumulated over time and could be substantial as people go through life (Harris, Michelle, Orth, Ulrich, 2019).

The idea that positive relationships with parents may also cultivate self-esteem in children, leading to more positive relationships with peers in adolescence, that could further strengthen the self-esteem of soon-to-be adults, and so on into late adulthood; was discussed. But this field still needs an integrated theory to explain whether relationships have a cumulative effect across life, or whether these certain relationships become very important at certain ages in an individual’s life. In the event of self-esteem or quality of social relationships being low, it can negatively affect the other factor, and produce a downhill spiral, which makes clinical interventions very important to offset this adverse development. Because the effect did not differ greatly among studies with different sample characteristics, it strengthened the confidence in these findings. There is a limited number of longitudinal studies on self-esteem and specific relationships in adulthood and even studies that use measurements outside of a self-report. So there is hope for a forward future with studies working towards filling in these gaps in this field of psychology research (Harris, Michelle, Orth, Ulrich, 2019).

The next psychology journal I read up on was about media exposure in very young girls and its influence on their perspective and cross-sectional relationships with BMIz, self-esteem and body size stereotypes. This journal started out discussing the media exposure among young children that has suggested influence on the self-concept and the adoption of social stereotypes pertaining to body weight, and also its connection to increased weight. The purpose of the study was to be able to examine the role of TV and/or DVD viewing on the influence of positive stereotypes toward thinness, self-esteem and body mass index standardized for child age and gender (BMIz) in very young girls. A sample size of 143 girls took part in interviews at the respective ages of 3, 4, and 5 years old. These interviews checked for positive stereotypes about thinness among girls, including age 5 dietary restraint. Parents were also asked to report on their child’s perceived self-esteem as well as their TV and/or DVD viewing. The height and weight were taken from each child. A cross-lagged model exploring TV and/or DVD viewing as a predictor of lower self-esteem, greater BMIz, and endorsement of positive stereotypes about thinness was tested, including dietary restraint as an outcome at age 5. The findings of this study showed partial support for the theoretical model, with the strongest relationships found between the ages of 4 and 5. Greater TV and/or DVD viewing was weakly related to greater endorsement of positive stereotypes about thinness between ages 3 and 4. Also found, greater TV and/or DVD viewing at age 4 predicted BMIz increases at age 5, and also greater dietary restraint. The results suggested that the influence of media exposure on body image and weight-related variables may start at a very early age. Findings contribute to the body of literature suggesting that early childhood may be an important developmental period for media exposure as well as social influence. This study relates back to my topic of so (Rodgers, 2017).

Next, I reviewed an article that examined the relation between self-esteem and Instagram posts. The study hoped to replicate and extend current research on the influence between posting self photographs (selfies) and self-perception, particularly narcissism as well as self-esteem. Not to confuse the two, self-esteem and narcissism is two different things in social psychology. Narcissism is considered to be the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one’s idealized self-image and attributes. People with personality disorder usually need large amounts of self-flattery, arrogance, and perfectionism. This study also considered the influence on self-perception and photos of oneself that were not selfies (“posies”) to see if there were internal attributions of selfies vs. other self displays on the highly popular social media outlet, Instagram. 100 undergraduate participants (these included 80 females and 20 males), had self report and observational data collected on them. Selfies and posies were analyzed according to the frequency relative to participants’ posts on Instagram that did not include their own image. Data was also collected according to themes (this included physical appearance, the exact location/event/activity, association with others, other/undifferentiated). Concluding the overall data, it was found that posts like selfies were not associated with narcissism or self-esteem. However, there were some specific themes showing relatively small correlations with narcissism and concerns about societal attitudes about physical appearance. Some aspects of participants’ Instagram activity (such as the number of likes for selfies and posies as well as number of followers) were greatly correlated with posting posies. This study actually does not validate the main thesis of this paper is, which is that there is an influence between social interactions and self-esteem. In this study, it was found that social media posts that included one’s physical appearance (selfie or posie) did not have a correlation with one’s self-esteem. The reason, I believe that social media cannot always dictate your self-esteem when it has to do with your activity on the site such as how often you post selfies because in 2019, social media is no longer just a platform to communicate and socially interact, but it is now a place for many people to make money, so the number of posts someone makes on their physical appearance could have very little to do with their self-esteem and more to do with how much money they will be making along with each picture they may post. Someone people’s physical appearance on social media is their actual business.

Next, I reviewed a journal on the relationship between social skills and self-esteem.

The study in this article examined the relations among a multidimensional self-report measure of social skills/competence, referred to as the Social Skills Inventory, and measures of self-esteem, social anxiety, locus of control, loneliness, and well-being. For the study, 121 undergraduate volunteers completed a multitude of self-report measures with these exact constructs. Not surprisingly, after completing this study, correlational analyses proved that social skills were in fact positively correlated with self-esteem, but negatively correlated with social anxiety and loneliness. However, against their prediction, the total score on the Social Skills Inventory was not greatly correlated with either the locus of control or general well-being measure. But, all of the various measures, excluding the locus of control, seemed to share a common dimension. This being the one that might be considered a sense of social self-efficacy. Relating back to my main argument, that social interaction influences self-esteem, this study validated my argument. It found that there was an influence on self-esteem when it comes to the social aspects of someone’s life, in this case, social skills. Higher social skills correlated with higher self-esteem. It is harder to develop long-lasting, stable relationships without some form of social skills initially, however, relating back to my first topic on how social relationships influence self-esteem and vice versa, one can ultimately see a clear pattern: social skills influence social relationships, social relationships influence self-esteem, and self-esteem can influence social relationships (Riggio, 1990).

Next, I reviewed an article on family environment and self-esteem development. In this study, the effect of family environment on self-esteem development from late childhood (age 10) through adolescence (age 16) was examined, using 4-wave longitudinal data from 674 Mexican-origin families living in the United States. To analyze the family environment, a multi-informant approach was used (mother, father, and child) to construct variables that minimize the influence of biases. This study used cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) as well as random intercepts cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs), to test the effects of parenting behaviors such as: warmth, hostility, monitoring, and involvement in child’s education; and other family environment characteristics such as: quality of the parental relationship, positive family values, maternal and paternal depression, economic conditions of the family, and presence of father, was also tested. It was found in the CLPMs, to be great positive effects on children’s self-esteem emerging from family environmental conditions that included, warmth, monitoring, low maternal depression, economic security, and presence of father. Children’s self-esteem predicted positive family values such as importance and centrality of the family, of mother and father. In the RI-CLPMs, the pattern of results was similar to the CLPMs results; however, only the effects of maternal depression on child self-esteem, and the effect of child self-esteem on family values of father, were statistically significant. In all models, the results were not found to be significantly different between boys and girls, or across ages 10-16. These findings suggest that various features of the family environment help shape the development of self-esteem during late childhood and adolescence. This study relates back to my main argument that there is social interaction influence on one’s self-esteem by evaluating the family interactions on children’s self-esteem. It was found that a more positive, loving, two-parent household (mom and dad) influenced children’s own self-esteem. I believe that family interaction not only influences young children’s self-esteem but it can teach them social skills that they may take into the future. Which continues into the cycle that I have developed not including family dynamics. This model being: Family environment influences self-esteem as well as teaches you important social skills, social skills influence social relationships, social relationships influence self esteem, and self-esteem influences social relationships. (Krauss, 2019).

Discussion

The main points of my review on social influence on one’s self-esteem was that whether it may be at home with your family, on social media, in a classroom room, or at work, you are always very susceptible to influence by these different social interactions. All of my articles included a social aspect or social environment that could influence one’s self-esteem in either a positive or negative way. I found that ultimately increased self-esteem came from positive family environments, good social skills, positive social relationships that reinforce positive self-esteem. However, I have found that decreased social relationships, or social validation, as well as a negative family environment where there is a missing father and financial instability and increased maternal depression., as well as increased social media and TV viewing activity can have some effect on one’s self-perception and ultimately decrease their self-esteem, (although to a slightly lower amount compared to the other studies; social media study did not validate central thesis). My central argument that there is social influence on one’s self-esteem means that not only are we personally in charge or our self-esteem but also the social environment in which we live in also has access to this characteristic in us all. Starting from a young age, we are developing into the adults we will be in the future and this development begins at home. This argument can be implicated in the real world. Personally, I am a very shy person. I was very sheltered as a child and my parents never pushed me to talk or see

Self-esteem is the amount of worth people assign to themselves. It has been a topic of interest for many generations. This is because self-esteem affects the day-to-day lives of everyone. Given its importance to society, it is one of the many things worth investing time and effort into investigating. This article discusses new information learned from recent studies on the development of self-esteem.

In order to establish a valid study, controls have to be set up. These researchers made sure to control the differences in income, employment, and health. This is so as to ensure that there were no extraneous or confounding variables that would corrupt the study (Orth & Robins, 2014).

It is also important to note that many of these studies combined multiple data sets, which increases their findings’ reliability significantly. Another reason why these studies are reliable is the fact that large data samples of over one thousand people were used. This is because the larger the population being investigated, the larger the sample size must be in order to provide adequate representation. This sample included various individuals from multiple age cohorts. The age of the individuals is the independent variable and their self-esteem levels the dependent. The data taken from this sample was collected in a manner consistent to that of a longitudinal study in which the data on these subjects was collected over a long period of time (Orth & Robins, 2014).

What is the usual development of self-esteem throughout childhood to old age or, at what points of life does self-esteem climb up or down? According to the data, self-esteem does indeed develop changes throughout childhood into old age. The graph depicts self-esteem increasing from childhood to middle adulthood, peaking at the ages of fifty and sixty. The graph then appears to be rapidly decreasing at old age (Orth & Robins, 2014). To further support this study’s findings, a couple other reliable studies have also found a strikingly similar life-span trajectory (Orth & Robins, 2014). However, there are also studies that depict a smaller decrease in self-esteem in individuals of old age. The difference between these two can be explained by a lack of control over the study (Orth & Robins, 2014). For example, the self-esteem decline during old age can be explained by a decline in health, cognitive abilities, and socioeconomic status. So, contrarily, when individuals maintain their health and wealth, they will appear to have higher self-esteem (Orth & Robins, 2014). Also, although women tend to have lower self-esteem than men, it evidently does not have a significant effect on the trajectory (Orth & Robins, 2014). Ethnicity, on the other hand, does play a significant role in the self-esteem life-span trajectory in that the trajectory for ethnic minorities differs from that of majority-group individuals. For example, the self-esteem trajectory for African-Americans both rose and fell more quickly during adolescence and during old age in comparison with European-Americans (Orth & Robins, 2014). It is apparent that personality also has an effect on self-esteem. People who are extroverted, conscientious, and emotionally stable tend to have higher self-esteem (Orth & Robins, 2014). Inferring from this information, the opposite is also true. Individuals who tend to be more emotionally unstable, introverted, and careless tend to have lower self-esteem levels (Orth & Robins, 2014).

How consistent is self-esteem or, is self-esteem similar to a fleeting feeling one may experience or is it a steady characteristic? A study finds self-esteem to be a relatively stable trait (Orth & Robins, 2014). However, self-esteem is not entirely fixed either. During adolescence, the lower self-esteem can be explained by fluctuations. These fluctuations can be caused by life experiences such as achievement or defeat (Orth & Robins, 2014). There are studies that support the idea that an individual’s self-esteem trajectory from young adulthood to middle adulthood steadily increases because it becomes less susceptible to fluctuations, or contingencies (Orth & Robins, 2014). However, this study does not provide information as to whether it similarly explains the self-esteem decline in individuals of old age as well.

Does self-esteem actually impact significant things in life? Levels of self-esteem can indeed impact significant things in life such as success in one’s relationships, career, and health. Based on the outcomes of a couple studies, there is significant proof to support this idea. If an individual’s self-esteem appears to be high, it can be predicted that this person would have better health, success, and happiness (Orth & Robins, 2014).

It is easy to understand the frustration my friend is going through. Having low self-esteem can affect one’s day-to-day life dramatically, causing them to feel downcast for even years on end. This, consequently, may affect their ability to have success in their career, relationships, or overall well-being (Orth & Robins, 2014).

Assuming my friend is around high school or college age, many conclusions can be made as to why they are feeling this way. My friend appears to believe that their low self esteem will never change and that it will remain low forever. According to the graph presented in the article, that is simply not true. According to the data from these studies, there is an overall trend with self-esteem. In adolescence or young adulthood, self-esteem tends to be quite low in comparison to the self-esteem of people in middle adulthood (Orth & Robins, 2014). Therefore, I can use this information to prove to my friend that their self-esteem will, according to this very reliable data, indeed rise if only they would give it time.

While self-esteem appears to be a relatively consistent trait, it can at times be susceptible to contingent fluctuations (Orth & Robins, 2014). Therefore, my friend’s self-esteem may possibly be currently fluctuating because during this young age, low self-esteem can be explained by these fluctuations. Since my friend believes that they feel like a failure, or they do not have much to be proud of, this can mean that they recently faced a feeling of defeat. For example, if my friend is currently in school, and they recently received a failing grade on an exam they studied hard for, their self-esteem can fluctuate to be lower in response to that news. Their self-esteem would drop for the time being. My friend needs to understand that this could very well be just a feeling that will pass when they reach middle adulthood.

The fact that my friend mentioned they feel as if they have not accomplished enough suggests that they are conscientious. More conscientious people, according to the data, tend to have a higher self-esteem trajectory in comparison to their less conscientious or careless counterparts (Orth & Robins, 2014). Therefore, I can use this information to encourage my friend in that they will likely develop higher self-esteem solely based on their personality.

These studies on the development of self-esteem have provided valuable insight into the important societal aspect of self-esteem. This new information can provide many people with an opportunity to know how to approach problems in this ubiquitous part of society. Knowing how self-esteem develops throughout the years and its varying effects on people of different ethnicities and personalities can provide a window of opportunity in future research and improve interactions in everyday life.

While great attention is paid to researching and implementing self-esteem in students, there is a gap in both of them. As stated by Kohn (1994), from the practical point, self-esteem improvement can be useful, but it meets various barriers, such as poor socio-economic status of families, domestic violence, and bullying from peers. In all of the mentioned cases, a student would likely be focused on resolving the problems, instead of having benefits from self-esteem increase efforts. Accordingly, researchers who study this topic tend to overlook political and economic factors, and this gap makes students unable to successfully address issues in their adulthood (Kohn, 1994). Speaking about practice, it is also possible to note the ambiguous nature of schools that promote self-esteeming by constantly saying to children that they can do anything, while teachers manipulate them by means of rewards and the necessity to follow the rules at the school. Such an approach disempowers students in spite of the efforts that are made by schools and educators.

The role of self-esteem in one’s personal and professional life cannot be underestimated, but it seems to be especially valued in education. Kohn (1994) states that self-esteem is more linked to psychological well-being rather than academic success. Likewise the above scholar, Martin (2007) states that a high self-esteem should not be proclaimed as an educational goal as it does not contribute to social betterment. Instead, it is argued that a child who is educated to be confident in isolated school settings would not be successful in social and cultural contexts that set different challenges and opportunities (Martin, 2007). The authenticity cannot be developed without a focus on specific history, culture, and society, which makes educational efforts useless. It would be better if schools could prepare students for the active practice of their citizenship, including economic, political, moral, and legal structures of society.

In turn, Baumeister et al. (1996) claim that high self-esteem may be an essential reason for violence, as opposed to the traditional view that people with low self-esteem are likely to be aggressive. Based on the review of crime, violence, and aggression, the above authors assume that a person with favorable self-appraisals is likely to become aggressive while receiving a feedback that contradicts his or her viewpoint. In other words, it refers to people who consider themselves being superior compared to others and facing threats to their egoism. It is important, however, to mention that Baumeister et al. (1996) do not claim that egoism is the only cause of violence as it also depends on the extent of accuracy and inflation. If a person has clearly identified self-appraisals, his or her egoism is likely to be affected significantly by the opposing feedback.

Violence between parents and children, inside the family, rape, murder, and assault are studied by Baumeister et al. (1996), who conclude that interpersonal frameworks are useful to understand the cause of aggression. In many cases, aggressive impulses occur as a result of the unflattering evaluation of disrupted appraisals. A person who dominates in relationships usually has a high self-esteem, and any attempts to oppose it or even an unconscious failure to support it lead to aggression. This discussion shows that the threatened egotism of a person is the main source of various types of violence, which contradicts the traditional belief that people with low self-esteem are aggressive.

References

Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103(1), 5-33.

Kohn, A. (1994). The truth about self-esteem. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(4), 272-283.

Martin, J. (2007). A case against heightened self-esteem as an educational aim. Journal of Thought, 42(3-4), 55-70.

Introduction

Self esteem refers to an individual’s by and large valuation of his or her own significance. It includes convictions and feelings such as achievement, hopelessness, satisfaction and indignity. Self esteem is wide-reaching as it can refer to a distinctive aspect or can have a comprehensive coverage (Grose 1).

An individual’s self esteem commences its development for the better or worse from the early stages of life. It is all about the kind of environment and upbringing that one goes through that determines their self esteem level. The manner in which a parent/guardian communicates with their child and the parent’s self image are all contributing factors to the child’s self esteem. For that reason, it is imperative that parents, guardians and teachers make certain that children are raised in a manner that boosts the development of their self worth.

By the age of three years, though normally considered to be yet tender, a child has gone through quite an extensive array of emotions and is a psychologically complex individual (Grose 1). The importance of careful and psychologically sound upbringing cannot, thus, be overemphasized if parents and other caregivers aim to raise persons who will be able to develop and maintain good relations with other people and also have the capability to effectively be in charge of their emotions.

Child learning and development experts advise that the psychological development of a child should be recognized and promoted at home and in the early learning environments like childcare schools and pre-units (Reese, Bird and Tripp, 461).

Raising a child with high self esteem

Parents, teachers and other caregivers need to lay emphasis on children’s psychological progress, the form of development that bears both physiological and psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning aspects which affect behavior (Weiner 16). These feelings should be certainly emphasized to enhance a high self esteem right through the child’s life.

The kind of reactions that a child receives from their earliest caretakers has a huge impact on how the child will be able to go about their sentiments and feelings later on in their life.

A child having a safe and sound relationship with their mother and/or other caregiver(s) will be able to easily establish constructive relations and react positively to instigations with other people (Henderson 118). On the other hand, a child who has a relation with their caregiver that lacks self-confidence or assurance will exhibit more downbeat and pessimistic sentiments while interrelating with others.

A very important point to note is that in young children, self esteem is not gauged by their personality significance, but by how intimately the loved ones in their lives deference and take action to their specific needs. For instance, children who lack someone or some people worthy of imitation or those who lack parental prop up have a propensity to having an inferior self esteem since the general feeling is that these grown persons do not acknowledge or get concerned about them.

This is the key element which children base their self esteem height in the course of their early days and then into their later life (Henderson 118). A good illustration of this is can be observed early on in babyhood growth of children who act in response and connect themselves to the adults or caregivers who show utmost love and care and are in charge of them.

Parents and other caregivers of children need to establish a sense of connectedness by use of loving physical touch and words as the first step. These develop a sense of belonging and security. The child is assures that there is someone or there are a people who really care about them and thus their self esteem is boosted (Vallee 1).

Early childhood development specialists advise that the fastest and effective means to quiet and calm a crying baby is by cuddling together while lightly stroking him or her. Such strokes have a remarkable power to show love and care. When an infant calms after this has been done to him or her, the indication is that he or she is acting in response to the caregiver who is without a doubt trusted (Vallee 1). This goes a long way in laying the foundation for the child’s prospective confidence and self worth.

As much as everyone wants to bring up responsible and reliable kids, there needs to be a considerable allowance for making mistakes. It is appropriate and a positive contribution to a child’s self esteem when adults own up that they make slip-ups. It is more effective when they go ahead and talk about the existence of mistakes and blunders (Henderson 119). In doing this, they ensure that the psychological growth of the child is enhanced since the fear of attempting new things is dispelled. This is a big positive in terms of creativity and innovativeness.

It is suggested that adults ask children their take on the most suitable actions to take whenever people commit mistakes or offences. Such sessions offer perfect opportunities for getting the take of the young ones on various issues and teaching them what is the best way of going about life. It also increases their feeling of self worth as they feel they are part and parcel of a family, classroom or school set up.

They get to appreciate that mistakes are part of the larger learning process, and that they are not experiences to be beaten by. Otherwise, they will be left feeling powerless and vulnerable (Grose 1). A majority of them end up turning into class comics, oppressors, gloomy, drug abusers, and other forms of self-destruct behavior. The mentality that nothing constructive can come out of one no matter what they do is responsible for this.

Children need to be made to feel that they are making a contribution to their family, classroom, and church, among others. Self esteem grows from feeling valued and worthy. For that reason, these developing people need to be offered ways in which they can make their contributions of whatever form.

Everyone has got at least an area or competency and if this can be discovered so that it is exploited then the better (Grose 1). For instance, an example is given of a little boy who instead of going to school spent his time in the bushes. When interrogated innocently to find out what he really liked, he revealed that he would rather be at home caring for his pet dog.

After this, the school head attracted him to take care of the school’s pet rabbit. With this, he looked forward to going to school every day since he had been offered to do what he enjoyed most and above all he felt that he had a contribution to make at school. Children who exhibit a likeness for various activities and duties need to be given chances to do that albeit in small or unsatisfactory levels to boost their self confidence.

Giving a choice is such an important self esteem development tool that it should be employed always. Almost all things or activities can be made to be in the form of alternatives. For instance, if you give a child the alternatives of writing using either green or red ink they are going to write more than if they were just told to write.

Giving choices or options helps build up logic of possession and accountability than situations whereby other individuals at all times make a decision on what you are to do, when and the manner in which you will do it (Vallee 1). Allowing children make choices gives them the opportunity to try out, make gaffes and gain knowledge in nonthreatening states of affairs.

Adults need to watch the language that they use around children. These young ones are not impervious to the inappropriate language that a substantive amount of people use. For example, children as young as five years old have been heard asking whether they are fat or not. One would expect that at this tender age they should not be having such thought in their minds. All this has resulted from what they hear and see in the mass media and what those around them are always talking about (Reese, Bird and Tripp, 463).

To avoid such negative thoughts in children there is need to always watch one’s language when in their presence. Whatever that they are exposed to through the mass media needs to be controlled and regulated. Whenever they come up with such enquiries, one should try to find out where they got or heard that from so that such incidents can be controlled and avoided. Whenever describing people one needs to stick to personality and character rather than appearance.

Praising children boosts their self esteem. However, it should be done whenever deserved and care should be taken not to overdo it. Continuous praising eventually results in them soon or later ignoring these praises as false and thus a negative effect on their self esteem. It is important that challenging and giving confidence to children to take risks should come in between.

Children need to be taught fine societal and conversational techniques by means of mock ups, direct coaching and directed performances. All these are vital skills in ensuring self esteem and boosting the way in which they will interact with other people in society (Grose 1).

Another vital self esteem developer in children is talking about the kin stories, ancestors, customs, and nationality in an affirmative and constructive manner. Parents, other caregivers and children should begin to talk about past occurrences almost as soon as the children language capabilities allow it (Weiner 16). Past event discussions should be presented as positively as possible, in a more detailed manner. Children undergoing such narratives end up with enhanced autobiographical recollection. Such events also make certain that children’s oral and non-verbal remembrance is enhanced.

Children need to be taught to set minor and main goals or objectives in a bid to assist them develop into responsible persons. They should be made to understand matters according to priority and thus enhance their planning and management skills (Henderson 120). They should be able to prioritize effectively so that they are in control of matters affecting their lives and thus hold high self esteem.

All caregivers need to build up the intellect of distinctiveness in their children. The reason for this is due to the simple fact that every person has a unique talent or gift which needs to be enhanced for him or her to attain his or her full potential. Whenever one’s uniqueness is enhanced in a constructive way then their self worth gets a boost.

All that is needed is to find occasions where this can be done. For example, if a child has shown a liking for drawing and/or painting, place drawing materials and tools within their reach and you can be sure that at one time or another they will get hold of these and draw or paint or both (Grose 1). Once you come across whatever that they have done be sure to commend and appreciate their work. This will boost their morale and self worth and they will seek to improve their skill even further.

Conclusion

Self development is usually a superior obligation as compared to self sacrifice. Having a first-rate self worth or mind set about oneself can describe self esteem (Grose 1). Children with a high self esteem always feel that the significant adults in their lives acknowledge and appreciate them and would go to whatever extent to make certain that they are out of harm’s way.

A child’s self esteem is not a thing to do with genetics; it is founded and developed with the help of parents and all the caregivers that the child comes across in the course of his or her development (Reese, Bird and Tripp, 467). Quite a substantial amount of time, commitment and affirmative back up is required for an effective development.

These and the aforementioned prerequisites for the development of self esteem in children may or may not work depending on the specific conditions in which the child is. It is thus of essence to ensure that a child is raised in a favorable environment for development so that the child can be helped by parents/caregivers to develop self-esteem.

Works Cited

Grose, Michael. “Building high Self-Esteem in Your Child.” 2006- November 14. Web.

Henderson, Shirley. “Boosting Your Child’s Self-Esteem.” Pp 118-120. Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (2010).

Reese E, Bird A and Tripp G. “Children’s Self-esteem and Moral Self: Links to Parent–Child Conversations Regarding Emotion.” pp 461-467. University of Otago. (2007).

Vallee, Tammy. “Parenting tips for raising children with high self-esteem”. 2002. Web.

Weiner, Jessica. “Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem.” EBSCO Publishing, 2003. p. 16.

In the area of our psyche, the media wields frightening power. As consumers, we may believe we are active participants in the media. There may be an assumption that we choose our media, that we police its affects, that we understand its affects, and that we successfully counter any negative stereotypes or insensitive cultural representations that our media may depict with our own innate sense of self.

We may believe that the media does not teach us how to think. We may also believe that our creativity and self esteem is in our hands, to nurture or decimate as we see fit. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. This paper represents an engagement with the work of three authors who have studied the personal and private effects of the media on the individual’s psyche: Stuart Hall, James Lull, and Laura Mulvey.

As these authors demonstrate, media representations, specifically those of “the other,” – namely, all the women, and all of the other races on this planet besides Caucasians – still exact a heavy toll on our creativity, our ability to take risks, and our ability to hold, bolster, and develop our self esteem. Simply in seeing ourselves as “other,” affects our self worth detrimentally and sometimes irreversibly.

The controversy surrounding British sprinter Linford Christie and the British tabloid press in the mid nineties illustrates a crucial and heart breaking example of the media’s might in the area of self esteem. The British tabloid media’s antiquated cultural representations of black men cruelly and utterly robbed this tremendously gifted and hard working athlete of his moment of glory after winning the gold medal in the 1992 Olympic games (Hall 230).

Rather than highlight the training, sacrifice, and mental focus that Christie demonstrated in becoming an Olympian, the British newspaper The Sun instead chose to focus on the “vulgar, unstated but widely recognized ‘joke’ at his expense: namely that the tight-fitting Lycra shorts that he wears are said to reveal the size and shape of his… ‘lunchbox’ (Hall 230).

Said “joke” actually crossed the boundary into marketing, as Hall notes, when a firm approached Christie to inquire about marketing their lunchboxes using Christie’s image (Hall 230).

Christie, understandably, felt the joke was racist, and inappropriate given the context. Hall carefully highlights the effect that the media had on Christie’s self esteem in this case: Christie felt “humiliated” (Hall 230). He had just won Olympic gold, arguably one of the highest honors awarded. Yet the media’s focus on stereotypical elements, namely, the expansiveness of a black man’s genitals, undercut Christie’s honor completely.

As Christie notes, “it happened the day after I won the greatest accolade an athlete can win…I don’t want to go through life being known for what I’ve got in my shorts. I’m a serious person” (Hall 230). Herein lies the media’s impact: the absolute erosion of any potential credibility “the other” may earn, in one fell swoop.

As Hall notes, one of the most effective weapons in the media’s arsenal is to direct our focus. In placing the focus away from the Olympic gold and on to Christie’s shorts, the media successfully “eclipsed” the black man and “turned him into a penis” (Hall 230). The effect, as evidenced by Christie’s reaction, eroded some level of self esteem that Christie had associated with the win.

The media also affects and to a large extent directs ideology, again through its power to focus attention on certain elements and ignore others. Theorist James Lull points to the fact that “some ideologies are elevated and amplified by the mass media, [and] given great legitimacy by them” (Lull 16). In this regard, the media has an insidious ability to manipulate individual creativity on the unconscious level.

Since certain ideas promoted by the media find their way into ideology, as Lull explains, these ideas “assume ever increasing importance, reinforcing their original meanings and extending their social impact” (Lull 16). Often these ideas serve the ideology of the elite, and form “ideological sets that overrepresent the interests of the powerful and underrepresent the interests of the less rich or simply less visible people” (Lull 16).

The net effect on creativity is that some ideas gain leitmotif status and enjoy constant repetition and dissemination, while others cannot find a foothold in the ideological wall.

Creativity that perhaps originates in a lower class, or comes from an “other,” perhaps a black man or a woman, necessarily receives less attention, unless it fits with the prevailing ideology, essentially, unless “the other’s” creative product continues to abase him or her in some way. The media tells us what creativity has value.

Laura Mulvey’s 1975 psychoanalytic essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema highlights another important effect of the media on both creativity and self esteem, specifically as it pertains to women.

Mulvey’s work essentially revealed that the media – in this case film – had succeeded not only in directing the attention of the viewer, but also of sexualizing that attention, essentially locking film in to an exclusively male gaze, exclusively focused on desire, and locking women out of the view completely, relegating them to the passive status of forms to be looked at, wanted, and controlled, and removing all female agency.

In film, Mulvey argued, “the image of woman as passive raw material for the active gaze of man takes the argument a step further into the structure of representation, adding a further layer demanded by the ideology of the patriarchal order as it is worked out in its favorite cinematic form – illusionistic narrative film…thanks to the possibility in the cinema of shifting the emphasis of the look.

It is the place of the look that defines cinema, the possibility of varying it and exposing it. Going far beyond highlighting a woman’s to-be-looked-at-ness, cinema builds the way she is to be looked at into the spectacle itself” (Mulvey 757).

The medium of narrative film affects female creativity and female self esteem in the sense that it has an intrinsic quality of rejection of female input in any other way besides silently, passively, and sexually. The limits that this places on a female filmmaker’s creativity are obvious; the effects it has on her self esteem perhaps less so. Mulvey’s message, sobering though it is, sounds the battle cry for filmmakers of all genders to “free the look of the camera,” and return creative agency to film (Mulvey 757).

Media representations, specifically of those populations who are non white and non male, still struggle to make visible – let alone do justice to – the enormous diversity of human life that we are blessed with on this planet. Ironically enough, for all the marvelous technology that we have at our disposal, we are still hamstrung by an obsolete ideological framework that controls the media. Self esteem can marshal creativity, and the goal of the future must be to free the media from its backward stance.

Works Cited

Hall, Stuart. “The Spectacle of the Other.” Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage Publications, 1997. 223-290. Print.

Lull, James. “Ideology, Consciousness, Hegemony.” Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. 6-43. Print.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 747-757. Print.