Self-Concept Under Attack

Self-Concept Under Attack

1. Teens face mental upheavals such as depression, eating disorders and shifts in sleep habits.

   • Deficits and excesses of serotonin — the "take it easy" neurotransmitter — contribute to teen depression and eating disorders.
     • Depression
       • Depression has more than emotional repercussions; it also affects the hippocampus, which influences short-term memory and our ability to process emotion and information.
       • A constant lament of gloom, moodiness, and drooping energy is a sign of true depression.
     • Eating Disorders
       • Obesity
         • Physical activity is on the decline, and girls in particular become less active during adolescence.
         • Adolescents with obesity deal with more teasing, fatigue, and lower self esteem than their friends of normal weight.
       • Anorexia
         • The self-starvation characterized by excessive weight loss. Though people with anorexia avoid eating, they have an intense interest in food.
         • Symptoms
           • Noticeable weight loss, the consumption of large amounts of water or noncaloric beverages, always feeling cold, and developing a fine downy hair over the entire body.
       • Bulimia
         • People turn to food to cope. They often eat large quantities of food, but with the help of purging, suppositories, and laxatives they are able to rid the body of unwanted calories.
         • Symptoms
           • Deterioration of tooth enamel, chronic constipation, and depression.
   • Melatonin changes the sleep patterns of teenagers.
     • This change causes the teenager to fall asleep much later at night and wake up later in the day.
     • The average teen needs nine and one-quarter hours of sleep.
     • Sleep deprivation makes it more difficult for most students to learn, remember, and think creatively. Emotions are harder to control as well: they turn irritable and have mood swings.

2. The physical and mental changes of puberty affect the way teenagers look at themselves.

   • Twenty-five percent of how much one likes or dislikes themselves is determined by their physical appearance.
   • Body Image
     • Boys have more positive body images than girls. Girls tend to be very critical of their attributes; boys, on the other hand, rate themselves pretty well, wishing only to be a little more muscular.
       • Girls
         • Early maturing girls have the most difficult time adjusting to their rate of physical development while late maturing girls have less negative experiences and catch up quickly to their womanhood.
           • Early Maturing Girls
             • For early maturing girls, not only their bodies grow quicker, so do their brains. They tend to be ahead of their peers in interests and abilities.
               • They seek more independence from parental control and are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, be depressed, or suffer from an eating disorder than their on-schedule peers
               • Although their brains and bodies are developing at turbo speed, they lack the life experience to deal with the above-age pressures.
                 • Once they become comfortable with their bodies, they have the confidente and ability to responsibly enjoy their popularity in older adolescence.
       • Boys
         • Early Maturing Boys
           • They enjoy a positive body image.
             • Society places high expectations on early maturing boys and pressures them to make lifelong decisions on things like career, religion, and political affiliation at an early age.
             • They tend to be more somber and serious.
         • Late Maturing Boys
           • They are seen as less mature for their childlike appearance.
             • Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, late-maturing boys behave immaturely because they are seen as children and treated as such. They are less self-assured, more restless, more talkative, and less popular.
     • Body Image is the perception of the body and the level of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) one has with their looks.
       • A poor body image coupled with immature coping skills and life stresses may lead to the development of an eating disorders, depression, or suicide attempt.
       • Body image is strongly tied to self-esteem. The more attractive teens believe they are and the more accepting they are of their looks, the higher their self-esteem-and vice versa.