A Query into the Relationship between Gender and Self Esteem in Adolescent Females essays

A Query into the Relationship between Gender and Self Esteem in Adolescent Females essays Self-esteem is defined as the way in which a person views their performance in areas principal to them personally, and the way they believe others of significance perceive them. Those who suffer from a deficiency of self-esteem have a heightened susceptibility to experiencing depression, becoming involved in drug use or other precarious behaviors; they may suffer from insomnia due to anxiety and are more likely. To show prejudice and disparage others. Abraham Maslow, creator of the hierarchy of needs, recognized the importance of self-esteem when he included it as the last necessary level one must fulfill before one can be actualized. Psychodynamic psychologist Alfred Adler once said that the Supreme Law of life should be that the sense of worth of the self shall not be allowed to be diminished. Despite the importance of having high self-esteem, far too many adolescent girls are allowed to fall through the cracks and suffer from the diminished senses of self at ever increasing ages. Why do girls experience more pronounced problems with self-esteem than their male counterparts and what has caused this gender gap to emerge in a supposed society of equality? Kennon M. Sheldon Ph.D of the University of Missouri-Columbia states in a report issued in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that once identified, psychological needs can be targeted to enhance personal thriving, in the same way that the organic needs of a plant, once identified, can be targeted to maximize thriving in the plant. According to the study, self-esteem is the most fundamental psychological need of American college students. Participants were asked to identify most satisfying and unsatisfying events in their life at different time intervals. The most unsatisfying events lacked the top four qualities associated with psychological well being. In all three United States samples self-esteem topped the list w...