Roscarli Morel

Tasche Bryant
Writing 104
October 9, 2016

Confidence Drop
Learn more about how self esteem is like in High
School students and teengers.
Growing up and defining oneselves is a major part of life and teenage
development (Image & Self Esteem). On an everyday basis, teenagers are surrounded
by influences. Some are good such as community engagement and education while
others arent so good such as drugs and alcohol. Teenagers are also often encountered
with obstacles like these and peer pressure in their developmental. Situations and
stress in life can affect the way one acts in the future. At this point in life, a teenager can
easily be negatively or positively impacted by anything.

What is self esteem?

Confidence can be difficult for teenagers, especially when it comes to social
interactions. Teenagers may start feeling low self-esteem during their middle school and
high school years. Self-esteem is the way one looks and feels about themselves and is
a personal and inner self feeling. Having low self-esteem may cause teenagers to look

down on themselves and think negatively and isolate themselves. High self-esteem in a
teenager means that they are often confident in what they do and have little difficulty
with social interactions.

This is something that everybody has. Some people struggle to keep it up and
other dont. However having it low is not abnormal. On the contrary, It is common in the
process of development as a teenager. Anybody can have a low confidence, but it is
most common in teenagers. Its part of getting to know oneself and plays a huge part in
identity.

How to recognize it
However, not everybody is the same. Some teenagers have a bad self-esteem while
others slightly have a low one. For example, a teenager could be good at socially
interacting with other people but could be constantly internally comparing themselves to
others and thinking negatively about themselves. Its all personal and individual with
each person.
In teenagers, this can be caused by various reasons. From family situations,
childhood situation, to simple stress. It is highly common though for teenagers to have
dips in self-esteem as they go through different stages or challenges in life (Young
Minds). Growing up comes with changes and sometime its hard to adjust to them.
Whether the change is drastic or not, it can cause low self confidence.

Some teenagers have a low self-esteem early on because of previous childhood

experiences (Latour). It can be caused by early on family problems such as divorce or
early childhood problems like bullying with kids their age. Having a rough childhood at
home or in school can easily drag onto a teeangers life as they grow up. If the teen
doesnt do much to help themselves, their self-esteem can possible gradually get worse
and become a serious issue.
The feeling of not fitting in, not being like the rest, and not looking like the
expectations, lowers both teenage boys and girls confidence on an everyday basis.
According to the Do Something organization, 7 in 10 girls feel like they arent good
enough and 40% of boys in highschool exercise to get muscles. Teenager are
surrounded everywhere by all types of influences. On the television and social, there is
the expectation of famous people and models. Being surrounded by other expectations,
teenagers can start to look down on themselves and think negatively on their body
image because they worry that other will too (Image & Self-Esteem).
Todays runway models are an unreachable expectation for an average
teenager. Todays model weigh 23% less (Lovett) than an average women, which can
meet the body mass index criteria for anorexia(Lovett). There are also models that get
photo shopped and both boys and girls try to end up looking like these unreachable
expectations and searching for social acceptance. This clearly causes low confidence
because it sets up teenagers to look at their body image in a negative way. It takes the
ordinary and average look of a teenager away fromt the expectations.

Who?
All of these factors that cause a low self-esteem can happen to any teenager. Yet
it can start to become an obstacle for teenagers. The usual signs of a teenager with a
really bad low self-esteem is that they walk with their heads down, dont make eye
contact, theyre often negative towards themselves, apologizes constantly and can be
involved with self harm or negative activities (Chris). When a low self-esteem gets to
that point it becomes dangerous. Teenagers start to exclude themselves from normal
daily activities. According to the Do Something Organization, Over 70% of girls ages 15
to 17 avoid normal daily activities...when they feel bad about their looks. Which means
that almost all girls and maybe boys at some point feel bad about their looks and look
down upon themselves.

Negative Outcomes
Having a low self-esteem sometimes causes tenagers to make bad decisions
such as self harm, eating disorders, smoking and drinking. Yes, smoking and drinking is
something even teenagers with a high self esteem would do, but they usually dont to it
as a remedy to their internal feelings. They do it for other reasons. However, 75% of
teens do such activities and they deal with having a low self-esteem (Do Something
Org). When a teens get to this point, it becomes problem. Its not okay for teenagers to
feel like self harm and negative activities like these are a way out of it.
This can also be an obstacle in various parts of a teenagers life. At school it can
prevent the student from being able to focus in class and learn. It can take away their

wanting to learn in school (Dr.Ken Shore). They can also tend to isolate themselves in
situations that involve people. Its hard for them to express themselves even if it comes
to parents and friends.
Overall, self-esteem is a tough situation to deal with. Although it is normal for
teenagers to feel like that at some point in their lives, having a low self-esteem can
become a scary situation. Its part of the teenage development and is necessary but it is
a delicate situation. Problems with self-esteem can happen to anyone as well. It just
happens to be most common in teenagers because of the developmental stage they are
in.

Work Cited
"About Self-esteem." About Self-esteem. Young Minds, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/whats_worrying_you_about_your_chil
d/self-esteem/about_self-esteem
Chris, Youth Expert, Parenting Coach, & Editor of Understanding Teenagers. I Try
Share What Wisdom I Have Gained about Teenagers with Those Who Need It
Most; Parents. "10 Signs Of Low Self Esteem In Teenagers Understanding
Teenagers Blog."Understanding Teenagers Blog. N.p., 27 Feb. 2016. Web. 11
Oct. 2016.
http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/10-signs-of-low-self-esteem-in-teena
gers/

"Image & Self-Esteem." Image & Self-Esteem. Mentor Resource Program, n.d. Web. 18
Oct. 2016.
http://mentor-center.org/image-and-self-esteem/
LaTour, Ame. "8 Common Causes of Low Self-Esteem." 8 Common Causes Of Low
Self-Esteem. Ame LaTour, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
http://www.goodchoicesgoodlife.org/choices-for-young-people/boosting-self-este
em/
Lovett, Edward. "Most Models Meet Criteria for Anorexia, Size 6 Is Plus Size: Magazine."
ABC News. ABC News Network, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/most-models-meet-criteria-for-an
orexia-size-6-is-plus-size-magazine/
Shore, Dr. Ken. "The Student With Low Self-Esteem." Education World: The Student
with Low Self-Esteem. Dr.Ken Shore, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/shore/shore059.shtml
"11 Facts About Teens and Self Esteem." DoSomething.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct.
2016.://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-self-esteem