Self-esteem and Body Image

Running Head: SELF-ESTEEM AND BODY IMAGE 1
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Running Head: SELF-ESTEEM AND BODY IMAGE 2
Self-esteem and Body Image
Teenagers encounter several challenges at their awkward stage of growth of their lives.
At the age of 13 to 19 years, teenagers are subjected to internal and external contemporary issues
in which they are required to cope up with. They experience social problem, changes in their
hormones, the pressure at school, and parental forces in their daily lives. These issues include
depression, eating disorders, teenage pregnancies, stress, addiction, drugs and substance abuse,
peer pressure, self-esteem, and body image (Braun, 2016). Moreover, teenagers feel frustrated
and stressed when they face problems related to self-esteem and body image. Hence this paper
addresses the effect of self-esteem and body image on adolescent behavior and how it relates to
their well-being.
Self-esteem is the reflection of the self-worth of a person consisting of beliefs of the
individual and response involving emotions towards the beliefs. In adolescents, self-esteem is
crucial in addressing challenges in life successfully for mental health and progress. Besides,
body image creates an impact on teenagers’ feelings about themselves. For instance, they
become more cautious about the change and growth happening in their body at the adolescent
stage. Hence, the external factors that affect a teens self-esteem and body image are the cultural
influences and media, the environment in school, and the family. The media offer guidelines for
what is perceived as beautiful hence teens compare themselves with such images making them
suffer from self-esteem and doubts about their appearances (Rodgers, Damiano, Wertheim, &
Paxton, 2017). Family affects the teenager's self-esteem and body image through criticizing
choices and appearances that teenagers prefer as the most worth hence causing pressure to the
teenagers.