Consequences of Low Self esteem
by Jorg Thonnissen (2010) Registered Psychologist
Poor self-esteem, when internalized, is often associated with a number of mental disorders and social problems, ranging from depression, suicidal ideations, eating disorders and anxiety, and if externalized, it may find expression as violent behavior or substance abuse.
Especially low global and academic self-esteem in children and young adolescents was found to be a predictor of such health compromising behaviors. For example, a study by Phyllis (2000) shows that poor grades and deviant behavior of children as early as in grade 7 are a possible indication of such behavior 5 years later.
There are a number of characteristics displayed by children and adolescents with low self-esteem. For example the frequent voicing of negative statements about the self as well as excessive criticism of others, overreaction to constructive criticism or other anxiety provoking situations may all indicate low self-esteem.
A relationship between Self-esteem and accomplishment has been identified in the classic ‘Principles of Psychology’ by William James in 1890. Ever since, many researchers have sought to define the construct. However, researchers are still rather undecided in their understanding of how many dimensions are considered reasonable, to ‘truly’ capture the construct of self-esteem in its entirety.
Some belief that especially early adolescent self-esteem is multidimensional in structure, as it is influenced by individual and contextual factors linked to adjustment outcomes that can both hinder or promote overall development of an individual’s self-esteem.
Brown, Dutton and Cook (2001), on the other hand, found the construct of self-esteem to have three meanings; global or trait self-esteem, self evaluation, and feelings of self worth. The concept of global self-esteem is commonly used to refer to the way people characteristically feel about themselves, whereas the same term has also been used to refer to the way abilities and attributes are evaluated, thus the name ‘self evaluation’. Conversely, feelings of self worth are used to identify rather momentary emotional states arising from positive or negative situational outcomes.
Across the literature, gender has been cited as a significant indicator of the individual’s perceived self-esteem. The construct has been found to have gender specific characteristics with global male self-esteem being on average higher than that of females. This follows that particularly age and gender are considered to present significant predictors of ‘Global’ self-esteem, and, as such, may vary substantially across contextual and/or developmental domains in youths.
