Low Self-Esteem And Self Esteem

Starting in middle school, the majority of girls begin to become dissatisfied with their body’s appearance because of the onset of puberty (Akos 138). Young girls in particular often feel this way due to increased body fat, acne, and bodily changes that make them uncomfortable (Akos 138). In middle school, girls are exposed to a plethora of negative opinions about their own bodies. In fact, girls who have been exposed to such opinions often feel as if they are not beautiful. In a statistical study, between 28% to 55% of girls believed that they needed a thinner body (Akos 138). To break it down further, about 80% of 10 and 11 year-olds believe that they

In today's generation, most young, female, teenagers have problems with the way they look, their appearance, or their bodies. Females have a lower self esteem already without society and social medias pressure to conform. Self esteem is a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself; self-respect. Males generally have higher self esteem level than females, therefore, more adolescent females struggle with eating disorders, self esteem issues, and often thoughts of suicide. Research and evidence suggests that a majority of young females lack of self esteem comes from social media and society's pressure to have a perfect body, or appearance and if females do not then we should conform to the standards placed before females by social media and society. In my opinion being a teenage girl in today's generation is so hard because so much is expected from adolescent females. Young females are expected to achieve beauty, intelligence, and social standards in a world that is constantly tearing down every movement women make toward independence. Social media and society does put pressure on young women to look a certain way, and if they do not achieve this look like the world portrays as beauty then their self esteem begins to drop in young females.

Most people face self esteem problems at different levels. At some point in life people face this problem without realizing it. In the essay The Trouble with Self-Esteem written by Lauren Slater starts of by demonstrating a test. Self esteem test that determines whether you have a high self-esteem or low self-esteem. The question to be answered however is; what is the value and meaning of self-esteem? The trouble with self-esteem is that not everyone approaches it properly, taking a test or doing research based of a certain group of people is not the way to do so.

Starting as children, people are inclined to strive to be socially accepted. With social standards being very difficult to fit into, many people feel as though they do not belong to a set group of people; therefore, they tend to have a lower self esteem which causes them to act out. Being isolated causes one to feel a lack of confidence within themselves because him or her can feel as though they are not wanted and do not belong. This low sense of self esteem affects a person’s motivation and mental health. Social norms can cause people to feel alone and as though they have no one there for them. On the other hand, belonging to a community or a specific group can allow people to feel as though they have a support system, making them feel more confident in themselves and becoming better in their overall life. Feeling accepted and supported by people can increase intellectual activity and boost a person’s self esteem tremendously. Belonging and acceptance increase and decrease self esteem thus dictating a person’s behavior.

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

Research shows that over 80 percent of 10-year-old girls fear becoming “fat” (NYC). Young girls are not satisfied by their body image and it is causing many issues. Even though young girls may subject themselves to body image issues, social media destroys girl’s self-worth because of the fashion industry and prolonged time and use on social media.

“ Over fifty percent of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet(3), even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 18 percent of adolescents are really overweight. About 80 percent of girls in this age group say that they have dieted in an attempt to lose weight.”--Mirror Mirror Eating Disorder Help. Unrealistic body images on social media can lead to eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression in adolescents.

In the United States alone, 40-60% of girls in elementary and middle school are worried about gaining too much weight and not being accepted by anyone ("Prevalence vs. Funding" 1). Adolescents and women are surrounded with the idea of culture’s “perfect body type” where girls are stick thin and gorgeous. Culture is obsessed with outer beauty and being as flawless as you can be, and often leave out how important inner beauty is. This idea of outer beauty often results in women trying to warp their body image to please the people around them ("Prevalence vs. Funding" 4). Adolescent girls use the media to help figure out how they should look and act, which consequently mirrors how their eating patterns change and evolve. Adolescent girls are targeted by culture, pressured by their peers surrounding them, and taunted by their own self-consciousness, often leading up to acquiring an eating disorder. When the eating disorder is acquired, it often had many damaging physical effects on the person’s body.

We see ‘ideal selfs’ on the television, so when we log into Facebook, or Twitter, we too create ‘ideal selfs’. If we look at media creating negative self-esteem, the main demographic it effects is women aged about 14-18. Girl Guiding, an organization created for promoting girl’s voices and opinions to be heard conducted a survey, called the Girl’s Attitude Survey. This survey included girls from 11- 21. In 2009, 36% of girls from 11-16 were unhappy with their looks. 1 in 6 girls said they were worried they would develop an eating disorder. They asked girls from 10-21 what aspect they would like to change about themselves. 33% of girls 16-21 wanted to be thinner, compared to 17% of girls 11-13. 66% of girls 16-21 have watched what they were eating, or cut down on their diet. In 2013, 87% of girls from 11-21 thought they were judged more on their appearance and looks than their ability. 80% of the same demographic believe that the media places too much discussion on the bodies and weight of girls and 71% of girls say they would like to lose weight. 31% of girls from 16-21 considered cosmetic surgery, and 47% of girls from 11-16 are unhappy about their looks. You can see that through the years, girls have become more body conscious, and mostly in a negative way.

According to Do Something.org, “Among high school students, 44% of girls and 15% of guys are attempting to lose weight”. This is because people aren’t confident in themselves. They aren’t confident in what they look like and don’t realize that no one is perfect. They compare themselves to other people and then just feel worse in the inside. Do Something says “75% of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities like cutting, bullying, smoking, drinking, or disordered eating. This compares to 25% of girls with high self-esteem.” Also Do Something says that “7 in 10 girls believe that they are not good enough or don’t measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members.” Having low self esteem can really hurt you even if you

In America, more than eight million people undergo eating disorders; ninety-five percent of the eight million are females. According to The Alliance of Eating Disorders Awareness in Florida, the average American woman is approximately five feet and four inches tall and weighs one hundred and forty pounds, while the average American model is about five feet and eleven inches tall and weighs under one hundred and two pounds. These models are thinner than ninety-eight percent of American women (National Institute Of Mental Health’S (Nimh) Guid. “Eating Disorder Statistics”). Society today encourages girls to believe that the only qualities in life are being slim and beautiful. Little do these girls know, most of the images that females are comparing themselves to are photoshopped images or women who have gone through cosmetic surgery to look that certain way (Djoukoue. “Keep It Real Challenge:”). A survey proved eighty-three percent of pubescent girls and females read fashion magazines for an average of about four hours each week. The surveyor then asked the girls (aged eleven through seventeen) if they could have one wish, what would they wish for. Most of the girls said to “lose weight and keep it off”. Then, the

Positive or negative body image can highly affect one’s self-esteem. High self-esteem is important because “[self-esteem] can be viewed as a key indicator of psychological well-being” (Clay, 2005). Cognitive health can be just as vital as physical health. However, a study found a profound drop in teenage girls’ self-esteem (Clay, 2005). Young girls’ mental health is being affected by their poor body image. While lack of education, weight loss advertisements, and celebrities portrayal of healthy lifestyles are often underlying causes for girls’ poor body image, digital editing and media overrepresentation of underweight women are the biggest culprit.

Every day teenagers spend 3 hours watching Tv, 6 hours online and 3.5 hours looking in a mirror. Body image is one of the issues that teenagers experience in their lives, it is how you see yourself physically and mentally. A healthy body image is when you can fully accept yourself. 80% teen girls are unhappy with their body image. Body products make us feel bad about ourselves and makes us want to buy their products. Media is one of the causes that make teenagers feel ‘ugly’ and not confident in themselves. Signs of body images are everywhere from food to cars, teenagers look at these bodies as a point of reference and try to look like them. Girls are being affected more than boys but it has been proven that very close to reaching the percentage

Young teens and children often feel pressured to be a certain weight. A survey of 9 and 10 year olds concluded that 40% have attempted to lose weight (7). At age 13, 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies” (7). Another study showed that 1 in 3 pre-adolescent girls are determined to lose weight (3). This is a trend

Dove’s Self Esteem project was made for young girls because more young girls struggle with having low self-esteem between the ages of seven to seventeen than most people realize. Not having good self-esteem takes a toll on young girls and causes them to miss out on many opportunities while growing up. Dove stated “six in ten girls avoid participating in fundamental life activities because of concerns about the way they look”. I found this very