Questions, such as, “Who am I? What am I all about? What am I going to do with my life?” arise during the search of identity in adolescence. Furthermore, the opinions of peers, and identification with a group become important to an adolescent. These concepts are crucial to understand because there is a dramatic increase in the psychological importance of intimacy to close friends, according to Harry Stack Sullivan. During this phase, confidence, positive identity, and emotional maturity influence self-esteem. Some terms that affect self-esteem in adolescence are their identity, friendships, and risk of depression. Because adolescence is a time of identity exploration, adults should encourage adolescents to try different options to find
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Adolescents begin to have more intimate friendships around this time. Harry Stack Sullivan reported that the need for intimacy increases, and motivates teenagers to seek close friends. If that need is not met, the individual will experience loneliness and a reduced sense of self-worth. Adolescents depend more on their friends to satisfy their needs for reassurance of self worth, thus, causing them to affect their self-esteem. If an individual is in a poor-quality friendship, they may have a lower sense of self worth in comparison to someone who is in a supportive friendship. Therefore, adults must help the adolescent understand the importance of a healthy friendship, which will benefit their self-esteem in the long …show more content…
Due to the numerous changes and life experience that happen during adolescence, the risk of depression can increase depending on how the individual views themselves. In addition, teenagers who had poor peer relationships, certain negative family factors, and stress can influence depression. Depression can take a heavy toll on an individual’s self-esteem, due to the feeling of discouragement that depression brings. Having a low self-esteem leaves an individual vulnerable to become depressed, and will have a fear and anxiety of their inadequacies. In order to prevent depression from happening in adolescents, adults must take into account the severity of the depression and social factors. Also, adults must be supportive and give their undivided attention to the individual, and provide the adolescent with their specific
Adolescents begin to have more intimate friendships around this time. Harry Stack Sullivan reported that the need for intimacy increases, and motivates teenagers to seek close friends. If that need is not met, the individual will experience loneliness and a reduced sense of self-worth. Adolescents depend more on their friends to satisfy their needs for reassurance of self worth, thus, causing them to affect their self-esteem. If an individual is in a poor-quality friendship, they may have a lower sense of self worth in comparison to someone who is in a supportive friendship. Therefore, adults must help the adolescent understand the importance of a healthy friendship, which will benefit their self-esteem in the long …show more content…
Due to the numerous changes and life experience that happen during adolescence, the risk of depression can increase depending on how the individual views themselves. In addition, teenagers who had poor peer relationships, certain negative family factors, and stress can influence depression. Depression can take a heavy toll on an individual’s self-esteem, due to the feeling of discouragement that depression brings. Having a low self-esteem leaves an individual vulnerable to become depressed, and will have a fear and anxiety of their inadequacies. In order to prevent depression from happening in adolescents, adults must take into account the severity of the depression and social factors. Also, adults must be supportive and give their undivided attention to the individual, and provide the adolescent with their specific