Thesis: Self-esteem in teenagers is greatly affected by modern day values, parenting, and the fear of failure. 1. Finding: PARENTING: Parental attitudes and behavior heavily influence the development of self-esteem. (“Self-Esteem”) 1. “Various experts have noted that when parental communication is consistently delivered in a negative style it becomes internalized, and children start to practice negative self-talk, generating their own self-reinforcing negative messages” (“Self-Esteem” 3). 2. In addition to positive verbal communication, parents can also express acceptance and affirmation by showing physical affection and being good listeners, which make children feel important and cared about as individuals” (“Self-Esteem” 3). 3. “Belittling comparisons with siblings… and threats of abandonment… are other examples of negative communication from parents that, if used consistently, are thought to lower self-esteem and diminish a child’s feelings of love and acceptance” (“Self-Esteem” 3). 2. Finding: MODERN DAY VALUES: It can be more difficult for children in the U.
S and other modern industrialized nations to achieve a sense of competence than it was for their counterparts in earlier historical periods. (“Self-Esteem”) 1. “It’s also the larger culture that has said that it’s more important to win than to cooperate; it’s more important to be an individual than to be part of a community; and it’s more important to have lots of stuff than to be connected to people” (Halicks 2). 2. “Forty years ago, people said that their major reason for going to college was to get an education, and the second one was to contribute to their community or their field.
Well, those things aren’t even in the running anymore in terms of the reasons kids go to college. The first reason is to make money. There’s an emptiness, a lack of purpose” (Halicks 3). 3. “A whole generation of well-to-do teens who are more invested in things than in people, who have little sense of themselves, who spend more time warding off who their parents want them to be than figuring out who they actually are” (Halicks 1). 3. Finding: FEAR OF FAILURE: “… In order for children to feel good internally they must feel that they are able to do things well… rying to shield children from feelings of sadness, frustration, and anxiety when they fail, robs them of the motivation to persist in difficult tasks until they succeed” (“Self-Esteem” 3). 1. “Children develop self-esteem through the sense of competence and mastery that comes from tackling and triumphing over challenges, even modest ones” (“Self-Esteem” 3). 2. “For children accustomed to learning by trial and error, frustration can serve as a source of motivation and energy rather than an obstacle” (“Self-Esteem” 3).
