Analysis of self-image

Introduction

When thinking of dramatic changes in children over time, people tend to think of the first two or three years of life. During these years, there are usually striking changes; however, the social changes and development that occur between 6 and 14 years are dramatic. The development of children between the age of 6 and 14 is usually driven by basic psychological needs to achieve competence, relatedness, and autonomy (Aloa et al. 2013). Between middle childhood and adulthood, children tend to seek opportunities to master and also demonstrate new skills so as to make independent decisions and also control their behavior. As children approach adolescences, their self-consciousness normally starts to increase. The focus of children during this time is normally on external characteristics that later shifts to introspection. It is normal for an early teenager to scrutinize her appearance and also feel that everybody is staring at her. During adolescences, it is a period of experimentation with different personae, a group of friends, and changing styles of dress. In this report, the focus is on factors influencing self-image during middle childhood and adolescence.

Factors influencing self-image

Gender

There are several factors that influence self-image during middle childhood and adolescence. The gender difference is one of the factors influencing self-image. From a very early age, children normally show an interest in gender. As children become aware of behaviors of girls, boys, women, and men, they start pulling their knowledge together into self-constructed understandings of how men and women are (Aloa et al. 2013). The gender schemas tend to become part of their self-sense and provide a guidance of how they should behave (Aloa et al. 2013). Boys and girls an overall sense of self-worth tends to differ depending on gender. Starting in the upper or middle school years, boys normally have a higher sense of self-worth than girls.

The gender difference appears because of boy’s tendency to overestimate their ability and the girl’s tendency to underestimate theirs (Aloa et al. 2013). Also, girls at this age normally have difficulty in taking criticism. Starting in middle childhood, girls normally rate their physical appearance less favorably than boys and become more preoccupied with how they look. Most adolescence embraces gender stereotypes until they can become comfortable with themselves as young women and men. During adolescence, adolescents start looking at women and men in a particular manner while searching for feminine and masculine role models. Most adolescents expose themselves to advice and images related to the gender roles in magazines and other media (Aloa et al. 2013). Because of gender influence, some adolescents become preoccupied with images of toned, slender, and for men, muscular bodies in the media. Physical characteristics also influence the self-image in middle childhood and adolescence (Dailey, 2010). Irrespective of what gender, the physical attractiveness has a high correlation with self-image from early childhood onwards. Adults tend to give more positive attention to physically attractive toddlers than those deemed as being less physically attractive.

Cultural difference

Cultural difference is also another factor influencing self-image. Cultures tend to tell children what they should think about, what it means to be a good person, and how to relate to other people. These factors integrate into the children’s sense of self. Different cultures differ in how they encourage children to attend to their personal needs or other people’s needs (Aloa et al. 2013). Some cultures tend to place more emphasis on self. In the individualistic societies, teachers, parents, and other adults normally encourage children to focus on their motivations, wishes, and emotions. The individualistic society encourages children to become confident in their initiatives and have a strong sense of self-worth. Contrary, in collective societies, they place more emphasis on the group. Adults in collectivist societies normally encourage children to take pride in the accomplishments of their communities and families. Thus, the sense of self for children in collectivist societies includes a strong sense of connection to the community and family. When socialized in a particular culture, children tend to learn to think of themselves as having the personal qualities of other people (Aloa et al. 2013). 

Family

The family setting is essential when considering the development of children’s characters and personal traits. The relationship between the family and the children in middle childhood and adolescent has a significant impact on developing self-image. McCabe & Ricciardelli (2001), claim that the parental patterns can influence the self-image of adolescents. The experts claim that college women who did feel over-protected in the early years tend to have low self-esteem. The explanation is that children receive a negative message from their parents that they cannot take care of themselves. They also fail to receive encouragement and trust from their parents about their ability to handle matters. When considering these factors in regards to the self-image of children, it leads to low self-esteem. The character and self-image of the parent also influence the children’s self-image.

Research findings indicate that the parent-child association in self-image; the girl’s global self-worth positively correlate with the mother’s global self-worth. According to Dailey (2010), the family environment can contribute to the formation of the self-image. The quality of the relationship among family members tends to have a great influence on the self-worth of children between middle childhood and adolescence. Families have the ability to provide more stability for a child, and the uniqueness of each and each family cannot discount as being a factor of temporary damage to self-image. All through the continuous changes that occur regarding self-image, the influence of the family members may be so prevalent to a child because it is likely for a family relationship to dissolve like peer pressure.  Similar to the relationship between peers, the confirmation and challenges from family members also affect adolescents.

The message that a parent communicates affect different factors of the self-image of the child than message communicated by fathers. Challenges from the mother have a significant effect on the self-image of a late-adolescent and confirmation from the father have a greater influence on the adolescent’s personality. The confirmation of the father has a significant influence on the child’s self-image; however, the father’s confirmation holds greater weight during early adolescence. Parental acceptance, approval, and acceptance have a great association with higher levels of self-image as children are getting older (Dailey, 2010). The quality of parenting also affects the self-image of children. When parents are making reasonable demands accepted by children and do not make unreasonable restriction and allow children some control and choice, it leads to children having high self-image. The expectations of the parents also influence the children’s self-image. The provision of activities and materials for children to master and learn new tasks provide children with opportunities for them to see themselves as competent (McCabe, & Ricciardelli 2001). It also conveys clues about the adult’s expectations. Those children who see that they have less challenging materials than others may wonder if adults do not expect them to success and, as a result, they may suffer self-image decrements.

Peer

Self-image tends to have several characteristics and consist of multiple aspects. The body-image is one of the parts of self-image. In adolescence, the body image is normally important to most girls. In adolescence, girls tend to be more aware of their appearance and also its consequences. According to Jones (2002) the peer influence on self-image usually becomes more apparent when children enter the adolescence phase. The quality of friendship also plays an essential part in deciding the adolescent self-image. Adolescent girls tend to form friendship groups where there is a high similarity between the body image concerns and also weight-loss behaviors. Thus, girls in these groups talk a lot about weight loss, compare bodies with others, and teased more frequently about their shape and weight. Girls in these friendship groups usually feel that their friends are important in influencing their decisions regarding diet (Shroff& Thompson 2006). Adolescent girls tend to internalize the beliefs and values of their friends during conversations and the more conversation about appearance one has, the more they internalize the appearance ideals. When an individual fail to meet the standards, they normally develop a negative body image. The social interaction with peers influences the attitudes and behaviors of people. Thus, peers influence the body satisfaction of children in middle childhood and adolescence. Friends normally influence the self-image of an adolescent in multiple ways. The more adolescent girls have conversations about dieting and appearance, the more they feel dissatisfied with their body and they are likely to develop a negative body-image (Shroff& Thompson 2006).

Materialism

Materialism is another factor that also influences the children’s self-image. During the period of middle childhood and adolescence, children tend to search for external factors so as to use as enhancers for their self-worth. According to Chaplin & John (2007), children focus on the material possession as a method of developing the poor self-concept they have about themselves. However, it leads to material possession acquired an adolescent to act in a manner the child define himself. The negative effect of material possession acting as the basis for the self-image enveloped in the child requiring self-esteem boosted by material objects. In adolescents, self-esteem and materialism tend to relate in an inverse relationship. Hence, when a high adolescent self-esteem expresses low tendencies of materialism, the low-esteem adolescent will express high tendencies of materialism (Chaplin & John 2007).  Researchers claim that materialism occurs because of perceived lack of social acceptance. Therefore, as acceptance among peers increase, self-esteem tend to increases; thus, leading to a decrease in materialism. Researchers claim that peer acceptance is a major factor that strengthens self-image.

Conclusion

Middle childhood and adolescent tend to be an essential stage in the development of self-image. The changes in the physical and social development tend to have an impact on self-image. In this report, we analyzed several influencing factors of self-image. Some of the factors discussed in the paper include the culture, gender, peer influence, materialism, and also the family.

Reference

Chaplin, N. & John, R. (2007). Growing up in a material world Journal of Consumer Research, 34(4), 480-493

Cupit, G McDevitt, T & Aloa, V (2013). Child development and education Pearson Higher Education AU

Dailey, M. (2010). Testing components of confirmation Communication Monographs, 77(4), 592-617

Jones, C. (2002). Social comparison and body image Sex Roles, 45, 645-664

McCabe, P., & Ricciardelli, A. (2001). Parent, peer, and media influence on body image and strategies to both increase and decrease the body size among adolescent boys and girls. Adolescence, 36, 225-240

Shroff, H., & Thompson, K. (2006). Peer influences, body-image dissatisfaction, eating dysfunction and self-esteem in adolescent girls. Journal of Health Psychology, 11, 533-551

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in legitimate essay writing service. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from research paper services.