1 Southeastern University ENGL1113 COLLEGE COMPOSITION 2 Self-esteem Review of Literature According to Caroll Saussy in her journal of Pastoral care, Faith and Self-Esteem, accepting weakness and depending on God is essential to be content with who they are. The study shows the different view of self worth between kids, adolescents and adults and how that can affect their way of thinking of themselves. The relationship between a parent and a child is essential for the child’s future. Children are easily influenced by their parents and for a long time in their lives, their self-esteem comes from what the parents think about them and how they see themselves. This Journal is especially helpful when explaining the importance of people knowing their worth in God rather than depending and being attached to worldly values. In a TedTalk, How Do You Find Self Worth? Dr. Lisa Strohman talks about the negative effect of depending on social media for validation. Social media is a big part of the low-self esteem this day in age because someone can so easily compare their real life to someone else's highlight reel, this gets people frustrated and not content with who they are and where they are in life. Even from a secular perspective Dr.Strohman understands how societal views can be bad for a person's mental health which connects with what Saussy was saying in The Journal of Pastoral care. In an interview with Dr.Morrow she talked about what are the causes of low and high self-esteem and why is that important. As a christian psychologist Dr.Morrow describes that a lot of things can give people self-worth but none is compared to believing God. This is because all things fall short but God does not and if a person depends their contentment with themselves with something that changes it can have a negative effect on their mental health. According to Anastasia Victoria L.H. Ho and Tick N. Sim in their journal of Psychology 3 and Theology, The Development and Validation of a God-Centered Self-Esteem Scale, finds out if people that have faith have higher self-esteem than people that don't believe in God. The research shows why God-centered self-esteem is valid and how that relates to the psychological view of self-esteem. The paper also talks about the Christian belief in self-worth, especially of what God says about people. Research made by Frontiers Psychology in Parenting Style and Adolescent Mental Health emphasizes on the types of parenting styles and how they can affect and predict the mental health and self-esteem of their child. This gives a lot of power to the parent which relates to the study made by Caroll Saussy in her journal of Pastoral care, Faith and Self-Esteem that highlights the importance of parents in a child’s self esteem. 4 Findings Self-esteem is how someone sees and thinks about themselves and many factors can influence that. Parents are often considered the most influential factor in a child's life, especially during their formative years. As per Saussy, a child's desire for approval from their parents shapes their thoughts and actions, making their parents' opinions a primary concern for them. Society's values and expectations can impact an individual's self-esteem. Relying on the approval of others to feel good about oneself can lead to negative effects on mental health. This is because people's opinions and societal values are constantly changing, causing a person to feel inadequate. This has shown to be especially influential because of social media, according to Dr. Strohman. The widespread use of the internet means that individuals with low self-esteem may compare their reality to the unrealistic portrayals presented online. A person can also create false expectations for themselves and be a high achiever. As Dr.Morrow said, people who focus on that level of perfectionism will suffer a lot with self-worth because nothing they do will ever be good enough in their eyes. All of these external factors have been shown to be detrimental to a person’s mental health. However, Ho and Sim emphasize in their research that people who believe in God can have more confidence in themselves because they know that they are valued and loved by God. They also understand that they are sinners and that only with God they can find confidence, peace and their real identities. 5 Discussions The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the causes and effects of low self-esteem and how faith can play a part in that. This includes self expectations, parental and environmental influences. In my interview with Dr.Morrow I was able to talk about how high achievers and perfectionists are more likely to have low self esteem because they have false expectations for themselves and nothing they do is good enough for them. “There's a lot of people that are high achievers. and they kind of self imposed this sort of perfectionism and when you miss that mark, it could really do a number on you mentally”(G. Morrow, personal communication, n.d.). Carroll Saussy’s study of Pastoral care, Faith and Self-Esteem, and the research made by Frontiers Psychology in Parenting Style and Adolescent Mental Health emphasizes how the parent influences the child’s decision and how they see themselves. However, the Frontiers Psychology study did not have the faith perspective like Saussy’s study had.The Frontiers Psychology provides research on the effects of the parenting effect on children and how it can predict their self esteem in the future. “The current study supports the theory that parenting style can significantly predict levels of self-esteem (i.e., parental warmth positively predicts self-esteem while parental rejection or parental overprotection negatively predict self-esteem)”(Peng et al., 2021). In Saussy study it explains the importance of people knowing their worth in God rather than depending and being attached to external expectations. These external expectations can also include the use of social media, in the TedTalk made by Dr.Strohman, she highlighted how people are struggling with low self esteem because of comparison caused by social media. Social media has become a huge problem for people that already deal with low self esteem because they want to look like the people they see online and have their life. All of these things are causes of low self esteem but that does not mean there isn’t 6 a solution. In the research made by Ho and Sim journal of Psychology and Theology, The Development and Validation of a God-Centered Self-Esteem Scale, they emphasize how God is the solution. When someone believes in God they know their identity is rooted in God and what he says about them, and in the bible God says that we are loved,valuable and His children. This makes a difference because God is never changing while worldly expectations always change.
