1. Creating a Healthy You

2. Think of five words to describe yourself.
Have students think of five words to describe themselves. If in a small classroom, have students write these words in a column. Ensure them it is private, unless they want to share.
Think of five words to describe you. You are welcome to share with us, but do not feel pressured. This is not going to be shown to anyone unless you want it to.
Ask for students to share some of the words from the list. If in a classroom, have the students write some words on the board.
After sharing (or if students do not feel comfortable sharing), ask for general thoughts regarding the lists.

3. How do you think about yourself?
“Self-esteem”
Overall evaluation
How you feel about yourself in general
There are a few way ways to label how people think about themselves.
Some people call it “self-esteem.” This is an overall evaluation. It’s how you feel about yourself in general.

4. What is Self-Esteem?
“Esteem” comes from a Latin word meaning “to estimate.”
How do you estimate yourself?
Ratio of successes to failures
Problems?
Stable sense of personal worth or worthiness
The experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness
The word 'esteem' comes from a Latin word that means 'to estimate'. Self-esteem is how you estimate yourself. no less than three major types of definitions in the field, each of which has generated its own tradition of research, findings, and practical applications: 1. The original definition presents self-esteem as a ratio found by dividing one’s successes in areas of life of importance to a given individual by the failures in them or one’s “success / pretensions”. Ask students to identify a problem. Problems with this approach come from making self-esteem contingent upon success: this implies inherent instability because failure can occur at any moment. Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Albert Einstein
2. In the mid 1960s Morris Rosenberg defined self-esteem in terms of a stable sense of personal worth or worthiness. Ask students to identify a problem. This became the most frequently used definition for research, but involves problems of boundary-definition, making self-esteem indistinguishable from such things as narcissism or simple bragging Nathaniel Branden in 1969 briefly defined self-esteem as "...the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness". This two-factor approach, as some have also called it, provides a balanced definition that seems to be capable of dealing with limits of defining self-esteem primarily in terms of competence or worth alone. What this really means:
•        Do I like myself? •        Do I think I'm a good human being? •        Am I someone deserving of love? •        Do I deserve happiness? •        Do I feel deep down that I'm an okay person? People with low self-esteem find it hard to answer yes to these questions.

5. How do you think about yourself?
Evaluations of yourself that are specific
Things like sports, grades, being a friend
How attractive, smart, popular are you
Mental image in certain areas
Some people prefer to use self-concept” or “self-efficacy” instead of “self-esteem.”
These are specific evaluations of yourself. Think of things you are good at, like sports, grades, or being a friend. It is the mental image of yourself in certain areas.
(Santrock, 2007)

6. A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. -Mark Twain
Self-esteem seems to have important consequence. As Mark Twain once said “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” But how have we learned after a 100 years of research?

7. Self-Esteem and behavior
The relationship is complex
Does self-esteem cause behavior?
Does behavior cause self-esteem?
Emler
Behavioural consequences of self-esteem
Self-esteem is potentially linked to behaviours in complex ways. The simplest possibility is that selfesteem has its own direct effect on behaviour. But the simplest possibility is only one of many. And these include the possibilities that self-esteem is either consequence rather than cause or that selfesteem and the behaviour of interest are both influenced by something else. Unfortunately, much research has not been up to the task of analysing these links adequately and is therefore virtually useless in answering the critical question: does self-esteem affect behaviour or not?
The most informative research for our purposes is prospective or longitudinal – it follows people over time and assesses the relevant variables at several time points. And it is multivariate – it assesses self-esteem but also several other variables that are plausibly influences on the outcomes of interest. Because this kind of research is expensive
and requires a long-term commitment by researchers, there is relatively little of it. Another useful source of evidence therefore, if one which requires to be interpreted with caution, is experimental research. This includes the better designed evaluations of interventions intended to raise self-esteem.

8. Very low self esteem in young people
More likely too:
become pregnant as teenagers
have suicidal thoughts
unemployed longer and earn less
suffer from eating disorders
be victim of crime
have difficulty with close relationships
Young people (between the ages of ten and 25) with very low self-esteem are more likely to:
• become pregnant as teenagers (girls)
• have suicidal thoughts and make suicide attempts
• experience in their twenties longer periods of unemployment and earn less (males)
• suffer from eating disorders (if they are female)
• be victimised
• have more difficulty forming and sustaining successful close relationships.
Quoted and paraphrased from Emler

9. Depression Sad Down Guilty Loss of interest Low energy level
Problems concentrating
One consequence of low self-esteem we are particularly concerned about is depression. But that we mean feeling sad, down, or guilty. Feeling that things do not seem as fun anymore, or when the person loses energy and has trouble focusing. 9

10. Things you can do Exercise Take a walk Spend time with your pet
Play an instrument
You can also feel good by moving!
Exercise has lots of great benefits, and it makes you feel good.
You can go to the gym, take a walk, or play with your dog. 10

11. Talk to Someone See a professional in school Talk to someone
School psychologist, school social worker, school counselor
Talk to someone
Family member, friend, coach
One of the best things to do if got so down it to talking to someone. Talking about these feelings by itself can change your mood and you can find solutions to situations that were bringing you down. School has many resources that can help with this.

12. The flip side Low self-esteem does NOT lead to:
Excessive drinking, drug use
Smoking
Violence or crime
Extremely high self-esteem can lead to:
Risky behavior
Prejudice
Rejection of morality
Young people with low self-esteem are not more likely to:
• commit crimes, including violent crimes
• use or abuse illegal drugs
• drink alcohol to excess or smoke
• as parents, physically or sexually abuse their own children
As a generalisation, it might be said that people who have or admit to low self-esteem – a poor opinion of themselves – treat themselves badly and may invite bad treatment by others. They do not, however, tend to treat others badly. High self-esteem is therefore very unlikely to be the all-purpose social vaccine that some have supposed it to be. Indeed, it seems to have some disadvantages. Thus, young people with very high self-esteem are more likely to:
• hold prejudiced attitudes towards ethnic minorities
• reject moral guidelines
• engage in physically risky pursuits.
Quoted and paraphrased from Emler 12

13. Self-Esteem in school Self-esteem was thought to be critical
School programs to increase self-esteem
Inflating self-esteem alone may not be helpful, and may actually hurt
High self esteem goes with good grades, but which comes first?
High self esteem goes with happiness, but which comes first?
Self-esteem, grades and relationships. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s many Americans assumed as a matter of course that students' self-esteem acted as a critical factor in the grades that they earn in school, in their relationships with their peers, and in their later success in life. Given this assumption, some American groups created programs which aimed to increase the self-esteem of students. Until the 1990s little peer-reviewed and controlled research took place on this topic.
Peer-reviewed research undertaken since then has not validated previous assumptions. Recent research indicates that inflating students' self-esteem in and of itself has no positive effect on grades. One study has shown that inflating self-esteem by itself can actually decrease grades. High self-esteem correlates highly with self-reported happiness. However, it is not clear which, if either, necessarily leads to the other. Additionally, self-esteem has been found to be related to forgiveness in close relationships, in that people with high self-esteem will be more forgiving than people with low self-esteem. The relationship involving self-esteem and academic results does not signify that high self-esteem contributes to high academic results. It simply means that high self- esteem may be accomplished due to high academic performance.

14. Where does it come from? Support of family Academic competence Virtue
Physical attractiveness
Gaining others' approval
Relationship with higher power
Outdoing others in competition
Crocker and colleagues (2001) identified seven "domains" in which people frequently derive their self-worth: -Virtue -God's love -Support of family -Academic competence -Physical attractiveness -Gaining others' approval -Outdoing others in competition Researchers such as Crocker believe that people confuse the boosts to self-esteem resulting from successes with true human needs, such as learning, mutually supportive relationships, autonomy, and safety (Crocker & Nuer, 2004; Crocker & Park, 2004; Deci & Ryan, 2000). Crocker claims that people do not seek "self-esteem", but basic human needs, and that the contingencies on which they base their self-esteem has more importance than the level of self-esteem itself.
In other words, over the long haul self-esteem is a reflection of person’s ability to fulfill their basic needs. It reflects this person’s sense of their ability to take care of themselves, to achieve their goals. We also call this feeling competent. So becoming more competent, securing things that are important to you, is the surest way to building strong self-esteem.

15. Some Specific Causes
Actual physical appearance is less important than his or her self-image.
The quality of close relationships with others is important
Real successes and failures do have an effect.
Actual physical appearance – including both body shape and facial attractiveness – has far less impact on the individual than his or her self-image.
Time and again it turns out that what matters is not the reality but what the individual believes to be the case. And this latter is often only tenuously related to the former. And in the eyes of other people, attractiveness is more than physical features, its who you are, and how you carry yourself. Take rock stars (e.g., Mick Jagger), case in point that you don’t need good looks to be attractive.
The quality of close relationships with others does appear to be a significant determinant of self-esteem. But, as noted above, the likelihood of forming these relationships is itself a function of self-esteem.
Finally, self-esteem can be damaged by repeated, unambiguous and public failures and rejections – such as, for example, may be involved in being diagnosed an alcoholic, convicted for child abuse, or being unable to find employment.
Quoted and paraphrased from Emler

16. How can you make a change?
Not just talking about it… ACTION
Meaningful direction
Concrete accomplishment
Getting good at it
Getting something you need
Self-esteem reflects real circumstance. Empty talk will not make a lasting effect. Act and feelings will follow
First, need to chose a direction that is meaningful to you. Sometimes successes don’t make a difference, because they “don’t matter.”
Work hard enough to get somewhere.
Getting good at this thing (basketball, physics, relationships, etc) will increase SE.
Getting access to something you need (respect of others, path to college of your choice, interesting past time) will increase SE.

17. Building Self-Esteem
Ask students how they can change their evaluation of themselves. Put the list on the board.
Separate temporary patches from longterm solutions when writing this down.
Patches are fine to get you through a rough spot.
Explain/reinforce that self-esteem comes from doing. List areas in which the student can have satisfaction and mastery experiences: repairing with a friend, making new friends, improving grades, getting better at a sport, at an instrument, spiritual practice, developing a hobby, a unique knowledge/expertise...
Ask student to describe how they or people they know achieved such changes in the past.

18. The Good News Self-esteem is something you can change
Choose things you care about, work on them
You will get better, you will feel proud