Paper Topic:

Adolescent self esteem in America

Individualism in America Compared to Collectivism in the World

and how it shapes Self Esteem in Adolescents

Introduction

The adolescent years are arguably the most important years of one 's life . According to Kipke (1999 , it is during these years that teenagers mature physically , acquire skills needed to carry out adult roles , and become independent . Self esteem plays a big role throughout these adolescent years , and for some will determine how successful they will be in life . When self-esteem is low , our resilience in the face of life 's problems is

diminished (Branden , 1994 . So when life becomes challenging , a person with a high self esteem is more likely to look at it optimistically and work harder to overcome it , while a person with a low self esteem is more likely to become depressed and find it difficult to overcome it

Many people deemphasize this problem in the U .S . They believe that low self esteem among teenagers is only prevalent among those who suffer from depression or some other form of mental illness . As a matter fact it is the other way round , with low-self esteem being responsible for depression . The problem is widespread among American teenagers , and it is in large part related to the individualistic mind set this country so greatly emphasizes . Most people consider the US to be a greedy country which cares about nothing but self satisfaction . Of course this is not entirely true , but it is clear that America 's individualistic principles are well...

8 pages

44.5 KB

Free sing-up