BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Journals Why the self-esteem struggle?

From Saturday, Feb 7th's journaling prompt

"It seems like with suicides, eating disorders and depression on the rise, self-esteem issues are a difficult topic to address. Why do you think so many young people struggle with self-esteem today? I hear people blame many things about our culture: media, Hollywood, the cultural break away from Christian world-view, pressure to succeed, parental distance and business, etc."

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I wish I knew the answer. I have two children whose next step is adolescence. I also had my self-doubts when I was a girl, but I never tried to physically hurt myself or wish that I was dead or feel like I'd be better off dead. I have always been a dreamer and thought the future would be much, much better.

That's probably part of it right there, there's no enough hope in these kids.

I think we are just more aware of issues in modern times. Look what people in the 1940s grew up with - WW2 was killing off many family members and they were surviving on little food because of rationing! How about kids in the 1950s, hiding under their desks at school and worrying about nuclear bombs going off.

In comparison, kids today mostly have to worry about peer pressure and "fitting in". I know it's still tough to be a kid - but I'm just saying in general kids today have it far easier than earlier generations. We won't even talk about the real depression, what that was like on families. Movies about that era are just amazing to watch. Kids nowadays with color TV, air conditioning and money in their wallets have far more hope and chance to succeed than most other previous generations. I wonder if hormones just mean that all teenagers feel angsty no matter what.

I think Lisa is right. To a degree I believe that the teenage years are just a very anxious and unsettling time in your life and most of that is because your hormones have not leveled out.

I think that today there are also a lot of pressures that kids have to face that are very different from the pressures of the past. The pressures of the past were more global, the depression, wars, energy crisis. All of that was more probably very difficult to deal with but it was not things that affected the teenager themselves. The whole country or the world might be dealing with a big issue like the depression, but one kid today might be dealing with the fact that their mom or dad is a drug addict. One kid today might be dealing with name calling and being treated horribly in school everyday.

I guess I think that since we don't have as many huge global issues as they did in the past, that the issues of today's teenagers are a lot more personal to them. They effect their everyday lives.

I think the issue of media and hollywood is also in part to blame. Society's idea's about what is the perfect "look" the perfect "body" are unrealistic because of the influence of movies and television. Pressure to succeed in school and in the work place is stronger than I think it ever has been.

I just think there are a lot of factors that go into it and when you put them on top of a teenager who is probably a bit hormonal, it gets pretty complicated.

I thought about the drug addict thing for a while. It's true that there are drug addicts today - but the reason Prohibition was successful even for a few years was that so many wives and children were being beaten by their drunken fathers / husbands. It was almost status quo for men to get drunk and violent. At least in modern times kids know it's not normal for that to happen and can try to seek help. Back then a kid being beaten was lauded and expected. Teachers did it in schools, parents did it at home. So even in terms of "intoxicated parents" I think kids today have it far better off.

In the 1800s, the average person in America drank 5 gallons of hard alcohol a year. In modern times it's only 1 gallon.

I think it's the hierarchy of needs. Kids in the past worried about very basic issues - food, Indian attacks, clothing. Now that those basic needs are met for most kids in the US, they have the luxury to worry about more high-end issues, like social networking. Which I think is a good thing!