Since our early years self-esteem has been a huge issue among our society whether it is among young children, teenagers, adults and elders. Self-esteem is how each individual person views himself or herself as a person both mentally and physically. It has become dramatically difficult not to get involved in this dilemma due to how society tends to perceive how we should be and how our appearance should be. Does society control our self-esteem? The self influences society through the actions of individuals thereby creating groups, organization, networks, and institutions. And reciprocally, society influences the self through its shared language and meanings that enable a person to take the role of the other, engage in social interaction, and reflect upon oneself as an object (McCall & Simmons, 1978).
Having low self-esteem can be very difficult, and it is a serious problem in today’s society. It can cause tremendous conflicts when socializing with others. This is because when you have low self-esteem you come off as a very shy and quiet person. You do not want to input your opinion because you have become afraid and the last thing you want is for someone to tell you something mean or uncalled for. This is when you reach the point to where you feel worthless and you consider yourself to be less fortunate. According to the article, people with low self-esteem feel lonely and unwanted, that you stop caring for yourself. In fact, the more self-absorbed people are in general, the more likely they are to suffer from alcoholism, depression, anxiety, and other clinical disorders (Ingram, 1990).
Did you know that more than 90% of girls from 15-17 want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance? Females are the worst suffers of low self-esteem and therefore there are a huge amount of females with eating disorders. For example, girls feel the pressure and competition that they have to look attractively presentable every day. “I think they will sacrifice being healthy in order to look good.” said Dunlap, a guidance counselor at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton. It was said that more than one in four of teenage girls have symptoms of eating disorder such as bingeing and purging, according to a Canadian study of 1,700 girls done in 2001.
Robert J. Brym and John Lie (2009) stated, “Todays, people’s identities change faster, more often, and more completely than they did just a couple of decades ago. One factor contributing to the growing of the self is