Building Self-Esteem

Posted by Winnie Melda on March 27th, 2019

Introduction

Self-esteem refers to having respect for oneself and their abilities. People commonly digress and feel bad about themselves which may be triggered by poor treatment by other people in their past. It can also be caused by a person’s own judgment of him or herself. Even though, it is normal, it is a cause of depression. It prevents a person from enjoying life. It also prevents a person from doing what they want to do or achieving personal goals (Rosenberg, M. 1965). It is impossible to enjoy life under these circumstances and feel good about yourself when you have difficult symptoms, experiences or others are treating you badly (Rosenberg, M. 1965). The National Association for Self-Esteem believes that self-esteem is the experience of being capable of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness. The association has carried out considerable exploration in the field. The essay describes the essence of building self-esteem reviewing an example of how building self-esteem alleviates a psychological disorder.

NASE links school dropout to low self-esteem. When children join the school their self- image is already substantially formed, mainly through the influence of family. A combination of factors from school, family, and innate intelligence are essential ingredients for building self- esteem. Research done by NASE shows that the level of self-esteem reduces as the age of the children increases. Study on dropping out of school has focused on characteristics of the individual or the institution that correlate with the dropout decision (Rosenberg, M. 1965). The frustration of self-esteem causes juvenile delinquency in schools. School failure is the starting point in a cycle that may add up in the student’s rejecting, or being rejected by, the school (Scott, S., Murray, G., 1996). The students who failed the competency test in school show increased tendencies towards alienation, anxiety, neuroticism and apprehension after the test (Scott, S., Murray, G., 1996). The study also revealed that children join the school with the expectations of succeeding; they feel good about themselves and are not necessarily intent on the achievement outcomes. Over time, they develop learn to care about succeeding and develop negative beliefs about the likelihood that they will experience success. It affects how children process feedback about their performance as their cognitive development continues. As children grow, they get to appreciate the emphasis on external evaluation of achievement that is common in school systems.

One must understanding the two types of environments in school and how they affect the self-esteem and image of a child so as to relate it to school dropout. There are generally two types of school climates: custodial and humanistic. The custodial school environment is characterized by maintenance of order, preference for autocratic procedures, student stereotyping and disciplinary sanctions (Scott, S., Murray, G., 1996). The humanistic climate involves democratic ideas, student participation in decision- making, respect, fairness among other characteristics. Study shows that those in the humanistic environment demonstrated higher degrees of self- actualization than those in schools with custodial orientation. In this school climate where student choice and creative expression get encouraged are associated with more senior student self- esteem. The more a student perceives a school climate as allowing their autonomy and initiative the higher his self-esteem will be (Scott, S., Murray, G., 1996).

Adolescents with low value towards school or who develop a negativeattitude towards school are more likely to drop out than the opposite counterparts. Because of the multitude of academic and social roles that students assume, they must constantly evaluate and reevaluate their knowledge skills and compare them to others. The frustration self- esteem model was created to explain this phenomenon. It suggests that as youths progress through their student careers they encounter failures (Scott, S., Murray, G., 1996). The failures increase the student likelihood of having lower school- related self- esteem. The lower self- esteem results in aggravation with school and later dropping out. In most schools the student who gets the lowest grades constantly gets bad feedback for his or her school achievements. It affects their self-image and also their ability to learn. It also impairs their decision regarding how long it is reasonable to continue schooling. Student’s academic and interpersonal self-esteem is affected by daily evaluations not only from school personnel but also from peers and family members. Further studies of delinquent dyslexics realized that, when these children fail to keep up at school their self-esteems drops as they begin to question their academic abilities. The studies suggest that if students receive insufficient or inappropriate support they feel devalued at school and turn to deviant behavior. It is a response to their sense of low-self- esteem included by a school and the deviant behavior is a way of attracting attention from peers. These students express aggressive behavior and end up being disqualified from school. Such students in other cases are not capable of forming social relations with other students as such enter into states of depression and, therefore, drop out of school (Rosenberg, M. 1965).

The essay shows that self- esteem is affected negative life events such as frustration conceived from failure which results in a general lack of control. In this context self-esteem of students is associated with failure and other personal issues. Low self-esteem can predispose you to developing mental disorder such as dyslexics and as such it is considered a physiological dysfunction. The essay illustrates that the best approach to dealing with psychological disorders is by increasing their sense of self- esteem. High self-esteem brings about self- acceptance which has two majorcomponents. The first component is recognizing and enjoying your strengths and successes. The second component includes recognizing and being comfortable with weaknesses. It ensures that a person does not berate themselves for failures. The essay proves that the larger percentage of the students that have high self- esteem perform in schools while those with low self- acceptance end up failing and eventually drop out of school. The concept can be used in the treatment of psychological disorders. Building of self- esteem can be applied in the prevention and treatment of psychological disorders. From the example, we can prove that if the children build their self-esteem even after failing they might develop a reason to continue school. It also helps with student behavior that prevents expulsions and suspensions from schools.

Conclusion

From the essay, it is imminent that there are key differences between individuals with high and low esteem. People with high esteem focus on growth and improvement while people with low self-esteem focus on making mistakes in life. I realized that performance in school depends on the self- esteem of an individual that consequently affects the individual’s attitude of going to school. I recommend that the teaching and nonteaching staff employ measures that will improve the self-esteem of individual students and avoid intimidating them. Also, a detailed analysis of the essay illustrates that the relationship between school dropouts and self-esteem fully illustrates how building self-esteem can alleviate a psychological disorder.

Reference

National Association for Self- Esteem, Self- Esteem 

Scott, S., Murray, G., (1996). Student self-esteem and the school system: perceptions and implications. The Journal of Education Research., vol. 89 issue 5, page 286-293.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image (p. 326). Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in write my nursing research paper services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from essay already written services.