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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Robbing Adolescents Of Their Self-Esteem

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"By age twelve girls are robbed of ever seeing themselves as being beautiful enough again."
Cherith Fee Nordling

As grandad of a priceless ten-year-old grand-daughter I'm deeply concerned about the effect our media saturated culture could have on her self-esteem.

In a study done by Daniel Clay, Vivian L. Vignoles, and Helga Dittmar of the University of Sussex they found the following:

"In Western cultures, girls’ self-esteem declines substantially during middle adolescence, with changes in body image proposed as a possible explanation. Body image develops in the context of sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media images of female beauty. In a study of 136 U.K. girls aged 11–16, experimental exposure to either ultra-thin or average-size magazine models lowered body satisfaction and, consequently, self-esteem."

The following are among the sobering findings you can check out on the Just Say Yes website:
  • 40% of all 9 and 10-year-old girls have already been on a diet – Duke University
  • 70% of 6-12-year-olds want to be thinner – National Eating Disorders Association
  • In one study, 3 out of 4 women stated that they were overweight although only 1 out of 4 actually were – Rader Programs
  • While only one out of ten high school girls is overweight, nine out of ten high school juniors and seniors diet – Rader Programs
  • A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents – Rader Programs
  • Teen pregnancy statistics show that girls who engage in unprotected sex often have lower self esteem - Family First Aid
Here are some of their stats on the effect of media on girls' and women's self esteem:
Needless to say, I am way beyond outraged by all of this.

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