Is your teenager having problems with his or her self-esteem? Parents should not dismiss this issue and consider it unimportant. Some parents even make a mistake of saying that low self-esteem is something that their kids will grow out of, but research is recent years have determined that low self-esteem is actually a thinking disorder and many young Americans are afflicted by it for different reasons.
When a person has low self-esteem, this means that they consider themselves inadequate, unworthy of being loved, and/or incompetent. If unresolved and unaddressed, this negative view of the self can become permanent, and it will affect and influence every thought and feeling. An individual who views himself/herself as inadequate, unlovable, and/or incompetent also has poor self-esteem. He or she will become prone to self-defeating behavior, and when making plans, will often proceed from mistaken assumptions about their own abilities to accomplish tasks and succeed.
According to the DoSomething.org, low esteem among teenagers is fairly common and there are different causes. Some of them may seem shallow to parents, but they are very serious to the teenagers who feel badly about themselves, how they look, and about their abilities and performance at school.
For instance, because they do not believe they look good enough, among high school students, 44 percent of girls and 15 percent of boys are attempting to lose weight. They see themselves as overweight even when in most cases they are not and are actually healthy and have the correct weight.
A shocking 70 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 17 often avoid engaging in daily activities when they do not feel confident about how they look. They sometimes end up cutting classes or forego attending school for the day altogether.
Thinking that they need to improve their appearance, over 40 percent of boys in middle school and high school regularly exercise. They do so not so much because they want to be healthy, but because they think that increasing muscle mass will make them look better and hence more socially acceptable and even attractive.
In the meantime, 75 percent of girls with low self-esteem have admitted to engaging in self-destructive activities such as cutting themselves, smoking, drinking, or doing risky dieting. Girls with high and healthy self-esteem do not engage in such activities.
Parents should do all they can to make their teenagers proud of themselves and how they look. Constant expressions of love and acceptance can go a long way to help teenager develop a healthy view of themselves. Parents should also be on the lookout against bullying and make sure to listen to their teenagers when they speak about their problems.
