UTS 6.1

• Late maturing boys


  Are at greater risk of developing higher levels of body dissatisfaction and engaging in detrimental eating and exercise behaviours
• Risks for extreme weight or body control behaviours

  • Extreme dieting
  • Extreme exercise compulsion
  • Eating disorders
  • Extreme or unnecessary plastic surgery
  • Using steroids for muscle building
• Physical self-worth


  Contributes to self-esteem
• Humans have the unique ability to form abstract conceptions about themselves and to gaze at themselves as both the seer and the object being seen
• Body image


  Mental representation of your own body, including size, dimensions, and attitude towards your body
• The development of self-esteem is very important especially in the adolescent stage
• Early maturing girls

  Tend to be less popular with their peers, show a consistently more negative body image, and are more likely to be depressed than late maturing girls
• Physical self-efficacy


  Includes sport competence, physical strength, physical condition, and attractive body
• Early maturing boys


  Are generally at a developmental advantage compared to late maturing boys
• Acceptance of ourselves usually results in high self-esteem. Non-acceptance of our physical self results in low self-esteem
• Self-esteem


  Result of social relation and self-evaluation attributed through your own social position
• Body image lies at the heart of adolescence
• Body image plays an important role in the development and maintenance of the self
• Empirical studies


  Demonstrated that early maturing boys are viewed as more attractive and self-confident, more popular with their peers, have a more positive body image, and tend to be more successful athletes than late maturing boys
• The timing of puberty in relation to adolescent boys' and girls' peers

  Appears to have important implications for body image and popularity
• Self-esteem


  Our sense of value/worth as a person
• Physical Self


  The central element of the whole self
• Body image is involved in all developmental processes and is an important aspect of identity
• Plato: 'We are bound to our bodies like an oyster is to its shell'
• As the advertising and film industries bombard the industrialized world with images of idealized beauty, more and more adolescents are forming negative body images and engaging in self-destructive behaviors to fit an unrealistic ideal
• The quality of feedback received from the environment significantly affects one’s functioning

  Negative feedback about the self is detrimental to the self-esteem
• Healthy Eating


  • We need to have the right combination of food to ensure our health and sustenance. Having the right diet will result in healthy skin, ideal weight, and better stamina
• Global self-esteem has a relation to subjective well-being and happiness


  It is connected to positive independence, leadership, adaptability, stress resistance, and involvement with health care activities
• Adolescents are forming negative body images and engaging in self-destructive behaviors to fit an unrealistic ideal (Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood & Adolescence, 1998)
• Some adolescents show high levels of stability in self-esteem, whereas others do not (e.g. Deihl et al., 1997)
• Speaker: '“Confidence in ourselves is our best make-up”'
• Having the Right Hygiene


  • Taking care of our body by maintaining a hygiene regimen can also help in making us feel good about ourselves. Take a bath every day, use deodorants, brush your teeth, wear perfume or make-up to look presentable
• Positive self-esteem enhances one's ability to cope effectively with stress


  Individuals with poor coping mechanisms are more vulnerable to environmental stressors
• The Physical Self: Achieving Physical Well-Being

  1. Healthy Eating

  2. Embracing a Healthy Lifestyle

  3. Quality Sleep/Rest

  4. Exercise

  5. Regular Check Ups to the Doctor

  6. Having the Right Hygiene
• A person is persuaded by other people as to his/her needs

  Self-esteem, the evaluation one makes of him/herself, is shaped by how others perceive him/her
• Early adolescents report more daily fluctuations in self-esteem than younger or older individuals, but self-esteem becomes stable with age (Alasker & Olweus, 1992; Alasker, 1992)
• Embracing a Healthy Lifestyle

  • Not drinking, smoking, and other unhealthy habits would reduce the risk of illness and diseases and make your immune system stronger. Physical activities such as walking, running, going to the gym, and sports would also contribute to a healthier body
• Self-esteem is understood as a result of social relation


  Self-evaluation is attributed through your own social position
• Self-esteem varies according to gender
• Changes in self-esteem level are often accompanied by strong emotional responses


  There is an inverse correlation between life stressors and self-esteem
• Global self-esteem is stable during adolescence and increases slightly over the period (Harter & Monsour, 1992)