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I don't like myself and am not comfortable with me, being who or what I am! Whether spoken or no, these are often the words or thoughts that teenagers express. The response? "Teenagers today have got it easy", is a comment that one hears all too often from the older generation. However, this is simply not true. In reality there are a lot more things that impact on teenagers' lives today that can damage their self esteem, many more than were around in the past.

Self-esteem is the process of self-value and respect, a psychological system through which we learn to take pride in what we have accomplished in our lives and develop a happiness level in being our own self. Our levels of self-esteem are therefore built upon what life throws at us, whether positive or negative, what we feel about ourselves in terms of looks, intelligence, ability, what happens in our lives and how others view us.

Whilst it begins to develop at an early age it is during those tumultuous years of adolescence when self-esteem issues are most active. In many respects these are the years that will set the level of self-esteem that will accompany one through their adult journey. Therefore it is important to understand the issues that might affect self-esteem at this time and how to combat them.

Biological changes

The teenage years are the ones where we will experience the most dramatic biological changes. Girls turn into women and boys turn into me and this involves physical changes that will affect the way that both others and we will view us. For example, the changes that girl and boys go through in teenage years alter them physically as they take on the curves and shape of womanhood or manhood. Their self-esteem will then be affected by the attractiveness of this new shape. For example a teenage girl will want to appear attractive and shapely and a boy in the same years might wish to appear hunky and manly. If they perceive that the reality of their looks do not fit with these perceptions, then this can damage and lower their self-esteem.

Peer pressure

Self-esteem is also affected by peer pressure in teenage years. In the physical sense this might occur during the educational process, when those teenagers who do not fare well are deemed to have a lower value and can be shunned or ridiculed by their peers. A similar situation may develop in terms of the type of clothing a teenager wears or their musical and leisure activity. For example, if they do not buy the latest designer clothing, or shares

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