Adolescent Well-Being

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Adolescent Well-Being Self-Esteem

• Mental Health Literacy for Teachers
• Module Seven

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Guiding Principles for this Module

• Positive coping strategies can help everyone
  maintain and enhance their mental health
• People can have positive mental health even if
  they have a mental illness
• There are many activities that youth can engage
  in to develop and maintain good mental health

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Remember Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological
• Safety
• Social
• Esteem Needs
• Cognitive
• Aesthetic
• Self Actualization

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Maslow suggested that Esteem Needs Generally.

• 1. Included the need for self respect
• 2. The need for the approval of others
• 3. And the need for success
• .and it all had to happen during adolescence

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Do You Remember when you would draw on the wisdom
of others?

• I would rather be blind than have sight and no
  vision
• Helen Keller
• Some men see things as they are and say why, I
  dream things that never were and say why not?
• Robert Kennedy

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Do You Remember when you would draw on the wisdom
of others?

• In times of change, learners inherit the earth,
  while the learned find themselves beautifully
  equipped to deal with a world that no longer
  exists
• Eric Hoffer

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Do You Remember when you would draw on the wisdom
of others?

• Life is what happens to you when you are busy
  doing something else
• John Lennon
• It aint so much the things we know that get us
  in trouble, its the things we know that aint
  so
• Epictitus

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So what does this have to do with developing self
esteem?

• Marcel Proust reminded us that
• The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new
  landscapes but in creating new eyes
• So what are your metaphors in describing the
  evolution of self esteem

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So we are preoccupied with our self

• Self esteem - is the appraisal we make of our own
  character and abilities
• Self concept - is the basis on which we make that
  judgement
• Self efficacy - is the identification of the
  parts of our character that have control over
  different aspects of our world

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Aspects of our Self

• 1. It reflects how we organize aspects of who we
  are
• 2. It is developmental in nature
• 3. Comprised of stages that are like frames in
  a movie

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One way of Identifying Our Self

• List five things you can do to make your self
  laugh
• List five things you can do to help someone else
• List five things you can do that make you feel
  good about yourself

• List five of your strengths
• List five things you admire about yourself
• List five of your greatest achievements thus far

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Remember when I said self esteem is developmental
in nature so what is a sense of self based on
for 18-32 year olds...

• 1. Pull up roots from family of origin
• 2. Develop an individual sense of autonomy
• 3. Establish self as independent from family of
  origin
• 4. Shift attention away from family to new
  commitments (school, work, hobbies)
• 5. Relate to parents as adult to adult

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Now I realize that this may all just be in the
abstract so what about the on-going sense of
self for 18-32 year olds...

• 6. Establish intimate relations with significant
  others
• 7. Establish social networks (school, work,
  community)
• 8. Get involved with community life, politics
• 9. Enhance the ability to communicate
  interpersonally
• 10. Maintain healthy, stable, and appropriate
  friendships and caring

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So how do we enhance our self esteem?

• 1. We can identify and accept our strengths and
  weaknesses - no ones perfect
• 2. Change the self statements we make in response
  to the world around us
• 3. Set realistic goals and then take pride in our
  achievements
• 4. Pay attention to our thoughts and feelings,
  and act on what we think is right for us
• 5. Dont try to be someone other than you are not
  - be proud of who you are

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What is an adolescents development of positive
self esteem dependant upon?

• 1. Degree of parental expectations, encouragement
  and influence
• 2. Degree of peer expectations, encouragement and
  influence
• 3. Development of talents, hobbies or interests
• 4. Influence and importance of role models

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What is an adolescents development of positive
self esteem dependant upon?

• 5. Extent of emphasis on body image
• 6. Experiences and interactions during education
• 7. Participation in physical activity and sports

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School - Based Initiatives to Promote Self Esteem

• 1. Promote positive peer interactions
• 2. Provide extracurricular activities that
  promote self-efficacy
• 3. Encourage student development of long term
  goals and plans
• 4. Provide mentors for students who are facing
  high-risk situations to reduce risk exposure

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School - Based Initiatives to Promote Self Esteem

• 5. Use multi-age groups to foster sense of
  competence
• 6. Engage students in career explorations and
  post secondary options

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Strategies to enhance Self-Esteem

1. Use students names
2. Greet students
3. Have conversations w/students
4. Provide multiple paths to success in class
5. Display student work
6. Give students responsibility
7. Provide opportunities for work to be judged
   externally

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Strategies to enhance Self-Esteem

• 8. Take time to point out the positives in
  student work
• 9. Never criticize the questions
• 10. Take time to help struggling students
  understand
• 11. Try to get to know a little about students
  lives out of class
• 12. Encourage students to take risks

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Strategies to enhance Self-Esteem

1. Help turn failures into positives
2. Provide opportunities to make decisions
3. Provide opportunities to work together for
   students
4. Dont make assumptions about behaviour
5. Allow students to suffer the consequences of
   their behaviour

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Strategies to enhance Self-Esteem

1. Allow students to explore options in different
   situations
2. Celebrate students achievements, no matter how
   small

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Adolescent Girls Self Esteem

• NLSCY suggests that low self esteem in adolescent
  girls is a chronic problem of unprecedented
  proportions
• What do we know
• young men consistently score higher on self
  esteem standardized scores
• young women lose self esteem (eg score lower on
  standardized tests) during the high school years
• young womens self esteem is more dependant on
  relationships than young mens

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How can we influence adolescent girls self
esteem? I

• 1. Model mutual respect
• 2. Provide sincere positive encouragement and
  recognize effort
• 3. Avoid sex-stereo-typed activities and comments
• 4. Avoid comments about body size and shape

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How can we influence adolescent girls self
esteem? II

• 5. Ensure early success based on realistic,
  gradual progression - guard against building in
  failure
• 6. Decrease emphasis on competitive situations
  during learning
• 7. Give young women equal attention as young men
• Provide young women with leadership opportunities

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Media Resources

• http//www.facetheissue.com/esteemmovie.html
• http//www.mindyourmind.ca/coping.htm
• http//www.whensomethingswrong.ca
• http//www.blubberbuster.com
• http//www.alterheroes.com/english/youth

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