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

ReferencesChoate, 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.