- What does it mean for a teenager to have a negative self-image and low self-esteem? How might it affect them?
- Why do we focus on social media and not on other media and formats like movies and advertisements? Didn't the same thing happen before social media existed?
- Do you think that if we reduced our social media use we would have better mental health?
- How can we help a teenager realize that they shouldn't compare themselves to people who aren't real? What can we tell them?
- What can I say to my son to help him accept his body?
- Can't wanting to eat well, exercise, and look good also be a positive thing?
- Can we detect at home when an obsession with image and a cult of beauty starts to become a problem?
- My daughter has anorexia and it seems that she's finding profiles on social media that encourage and exacerbate this disorder. Should I forbid her from going online? How can I monitor her?
- How can we boost our children's self-esteem, beyond social media?
- Filters that remove wrinkles or reduce body mass allow us to change our appearance and create a persona we're not. Could this lead us to increasingly avoid personal contact in order to conceal our true selves?
- Why do we always talk about teenagers? Doesn't it affect adults?
- Do you know of any initiatives with good results for addressing this issue in schools?
- Can social pressure to always be happy lead to depression?
- Can celebrities talking about their mental health disorders create a trend or trivialize them?
- If I notice that my daughter is discriminating against someone because of their appearance, what can I do or say to her?
- What can I do if I see that a girl from my school is being bullied through social media?
- It seems that we parents are always blamed for our children's use of social media or for whether or not they have good self-esteem.
- My daughter loves wearing makeup and posting her makeup routines on social media. Could this be harmful, or should I think it's normal?
What does it mean for a teenager to have a negative self-image and low self-esteem? How might it affect them?
Adolescence is a stage of construction and significant changes on several levels: neurophysiological, cognitive, emotional, bodily, and relational changes occur. All these changes imply a qualitative leap in development, and this is what we call adolescence.
Each child needs to integrate these changes. We would use the term self-concept to refer to the cognitive outcome, or the idea that adolescents will have of themselves. And we would use the term self-esteem to refer to the emotional outcome, or the feeling resulting from this integration of changes.
Self-esteem and self-concept are related in a circular way , in such a way that the idea they have of themselves influences their feelings, and the emotions they experience in relation to these changes influence their idea of themselves.
When the emotions a teenager experiences in relation to these changes are excessively intense, unpleasant, overwhelming, or unmanageable, negative ideas about themselves begin to develop. And these ideas trigger more unpleasant emotional states.
This process usually influences all areas of development: socialization, self-care, risk behaviors, school performance, sexuality, and mental health.
Self-esteem as the foundation of good mental health