Self-EsteemA guide for guardians of middle school girls

Today’s Goals

• Talk about factors that affect overall self-esteem

• Provide strategies that can help you boost your student’s self-esteem

• Help the girls of CMS choose healthy behaviors, feel good about themselves, and separate self-worth from physical appearance

Self-Esteem

• Impacted by factors such as age, race, ethnicity, puberty, body weight, involvement in physical activity, and gender

• Girls report lower total self-concept than boys

• Declines in adolescence

• Girls’ self-esteem does not increase until adulthood (Myers, Willse, & Villalba, 2011)

• Across all racial groups (Choate, 2007)

Why is important for girls to have high

self-esteem?• Low self-esteem can lead to emotional

distress, obsessive thinking about appearance, unnecessary cosmetic surgery, depression, smoking, and maladaptive eating practices, (Choate, 2007) & poor health (Myers, Willse, & Villalba, 2011)

• Positive self-esteem has been linked with mental health, feelings of mattering to others, positive body-image & physical health (Myers, Willse, & Villalba, 2011)

Middle School: A Critical Period

• In adolescence, body image becomes the most important factor in determining self-esteem

• Puberty brings average weight gain of 50 pounds in girls

• When a girl’s physical appearance becomes most important to her, her body is undergoing changes that stray from her ideal

• 40%-70% of teen girls are dissatisfied with two or more aspects of their bodies

• 42% to 45% of 9th to 12th grade girls were dieting to lose weight in a large-scale study

• Adolescent girls especially form self-identity based on social comparison and media images

• Interest in dating makes girls more aware of their appearances as part of their identities (Choate, 2007)

What Factors Negatively Impact

Self-Esteem?• Gender role messages that encourage girls to conform

• Contradictory cultural expectations that tell girls that they should strive to be “superwomen” lead to feelings of inadequacy

• Media messages that tell girls that they can become perfect if they work hard enough lead to self-blame (Choate, 2007)

• Peer group discussions that center around appearances and boys

• Lack of social support (Dalgas-Pelish, 2006)

• Perceived body image, not BMI

• Teasing (Kutob, Senf, Crago, & Shisslak, 2010)

What can guardians do to help their

students with self-esteem?

Building Upon Strengths:

Coping Self

• Leisure

• Stress management

• Self worth

• Realistic beliefs

Leisure• Girls who are involved in physical activity

generally have higher levels of self-esteem• make sure girls are involved for the right reasons!

• Girls who are involved in team sports generally have higher levels of self-esteem

TIPS:• Help her find leisure and extracurricular activities

that are fun and are in line with her values (Choate, 2007)

Self Worth and Realistic Beliefs

• Help her understand the harmful messages being sent by the media. You could create a scrapbook that compares realistic/healthy images to unrealistic ones

• Encourage girls to be independent thinkers. Sit down with your student and talk about cultural values and encourage her to make decisions for herself

• Talk about the importance of developing a personal value system

• Develop a “gratitude journal” that focuses on what is going well in her life and about her strengths (Choate, 2007)

TIPS:

Social Self

• Girls need family members who provide them with affirming message about their bodies

• Female Guardians – girls get messages about their own body image from you!

TIPS:• Discourage diet talk in the home, engage in healthy

habits, refrain from negative self-talk

• Talk about different body types and expose girls to female role models of all shapes and sizes (Choate, 2007)

Social Self

• Friends – Can hurt or help

TIPS:• Encourage your students to get involved in peer

groups that help them to feel good about themselves (Choate, 2007)

A Final Note

• Teasing is one of the biggest predictors of self-esteem

• Talk to your student about telling an adult

• If your student reports teasing to you, contact the school

• Educate your student on the harmful effects of teasing others (Kutob et al., 2010)

Helping Organizations

• Girl Scouts of America www.girlscouts.org

• Piedmont YMCA www.piedmontymca.org

• Youth Sports Now www.youthsportsnow.org

• Confidence Coalition www.confidencecoalition.org

• Girl Talk www.mygirltalk.org

• Girls on the Run www.girlsontherun.org

• Girlshealth.gov

Resources

• Think Confident, Be Confident for Teens by Marci Fox & Leslie Sokol

• Brave New Girls by Jeanette Gadeberg

• The Self-Esteem Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help You Build Confidence and Achieve Your Goals by Lisa M. Schab

• Be True to Yourself: A Daily Guide for Teenage Girls by Amanda Ford and Shannon Berning

References

Choate, L. (2007). Counseling adolescent girls for body image resilience: Strategies for school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 10(3), 317-326.

Dalgas-Pelish, P. (2006). Effects of a self-esteem intervention program on school-age children. Pediatric Nursing, 32(4), 341-348.

Kutob, R. M., Senf, J. H., Crago, M., & Shisslak, C. M. (2010). Concurrent and longitudinal predictors of self-esteem in elementary and middle school girls. Journal Of School Health, 80(5), 240-248. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00496.x

Myers, J. E., Willise, J. T., & Villalba, J. A. (2011). Promoting self-esteem in adolescents: The influence of wellness factors. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 89(1), 28-36.