The Differences between the Self-Esteem of Boys and Girls During Puberty

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Puberty is a time of many changes. Your body changes, your voice can change, and your emotions are on overdrive. The changes going through an adolescent’s body can be very confusing. Not everyone going through puberty knows what is happening to them. Plus, even if an understanding is there, it can be very uncomfortable. Almost every part of an adolescent’s body is affected when going through puberty. Psychologically, an adolescent is affected too. One psychological effect of puberty is a decreased self-esteem. Boys and girls both have affected self-esteem during puberty, but girls’ self-esteem seems to have a negative impact during puberty, whiles boys seem to have a more positive impact. This paper will focus on the impact of self-esteem in both boys and girls during puberty, and if there is a positive or negative impact.

Self-Esteem

To understand what effect self-esteem has on adolescents going through puberty, one has to know what self- esteem is. Self-esteem is known as one’s own worth, or one’s self-respect. In one study by Simmons, et al., self-esteem is defined “as an individual's global positive or negative attitude toward him- or herself.” (Simmons, Blyth, Van Cleave, & Bush, 1979). People can have high self-esteem, low self-esteem or be somewhere in the middle. Briggs (1988) indicates that the most dangerous kind of self-esteem to have is high self-esteem. The author argues that when a person uses drugs, or alcohol the person with higher self-esteem will be more likely to engage in risky behavior than a person with low self-esteem. This is because your self-esteem is elevated when intoxicated, so the higher your self-esteem is the more confidence a person will have (1988).

One thing to keep in mind when discussing ...

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prospectively predicts depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 45, 539-549. Retrieved by http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15374424jccp3504_5#.Uou6jsX5HyU

Polce-Lynch, M., Myers, B.J., Kilmartin, C.T., Forssmann-Faulk, R. , & Kliewer, W, (1998).

Gender and age patterns in emotional expression, body image, and self-esteem: a qualitative analysis, Sex roles: A journal of research, 38, 1025. Retrieved from http://42051.faithweb.com/Gender%20and%20age%20patterns%20in%20emotional%20expression.html

Simmons, R.G., Blyth, D.A., Van Cleave, E.F., & Bush, D.M., (1979). Entry into early

adolescence: The impact of school structure, puberty, and early dating on

self-esteem, American Sociological Review, 44, 948-967. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2094719

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