Self Esteem in Teens

Self-Esteem in Teens

Over the previous weeks, I have been researching the self-esteem in teens, finding out what causes it, why it happens, and what are the levels that many are at/reaching. I found that in many cases the teens were comparing themselves to other students and peers. The kids always wanted to be like the person standing next to them. There was always something wrong with them or something they wanted to fix; such as, their weight, height, intelligence, athleticism and much more. I also found that it comes as human nature to be uncomfortable with our own bodies and have low self-esteem. The problem comes when people do not learn how to cope with not being the same as others and not accepting their own bodies at free will. This is when teenagers are getting diagnosed with depression and eating disorders.

Through researching, I also found that there is a ton of resources out there to help kids who are truly struggling with their self-esteem and they are able to know that they are not alone. While reading through many sites, the biggest piece of information that kept recurring was the simplicity of what could be said to show that they have low self-esteem; such as, “You are so much prettier than I am”, or “I wish I had a body like you do!” These are all things that you hear from day to day and think nothing of because in today’s society everyone says those types of things as if it is not a big deal. In reality, it could be a huge deal and the person saying could have a very poor self image. These are things we need to look for in the youth to know how to pick them up and feel better about themselves.

I agree with most of the articles that I had gathered research from because I use to have very low self esteem and was able to agree with the sources on both an insiders thought process and outsider seeing in. I did not agree with Perrin on her take on how self esteem is different between gender and race. I believe that every kid is at one time a...