Self- Esteem’s Role in Mental Health Outcomes

One’s view of themselves begins in infancy and evolves throughout their life. The beliefs that individuals hold about themselves affect their personal identity and their goals for the future. Within a school environment, students face continual pressure to achieve a certain standard in order to gain scholarships, to be accepted into programs and to make others or themselves proud. One’s self-esteem can either weigh a person down or it can act as a protective barrier against negative events.
The outcomes for having low self-esteem can be very serious. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV), negative self-views are a key component for diagnosing a range of mental disorders such as major depressive disorder, manic and hypomanic episodes, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and personality disorders. It has been most closely associated with depression. In one study, individuals with low self-esteem were more likely to associate negative events as stable and relating to personal attributions, while individuals with higher self-esteem were more likely to view negative events as being unstable and related to external events (Campbell et al., 1991). The role of stress also plays a part in one’s risk for depression. When high levels of stress interact with low self-esteem, there is a heightened risk of depression, while low self-esteem alone did not contribute to the correlation.
On the contrary, having higher self-esteem can act as a buffer against stress and negative events. Research has shown that having a more exaggerated sense of self-worth can lead to better mental health outcomes. When faced with stress, higher self-esteem can lessen the perceived threat and one is more likely to use healthy coping skills. It appears that higher self-esteem leads to more positive outcomes by ‘protecting internal balance.’
As many of you begin your midterms, feed your mind positive evaluations and surround yourself with supportive people. Sometimes we can quickly slip into negative self-talk but remember that your mental state will fair better if you prop yourself up.

Reference:

Hosman, C. M. H., Vries, N. K. d., Mann, M., & Schaalma, H. P. (2004). Self-esteem in a
broad-spectrum approach for mental health promotion. Health Education Research, 19(4), 357-372. doi:10.1093/her/cyg041

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