This post will cover the results of
our assessment surveys. We received responses from child, adolescent, and adult
females. After discussing the results of our assessment, we will discuss the
plan that we have developed based on the information we have gathered.
Survey Results
The children, defined as age twelve
and under for the purpose of reporting results, primarily defined self-esteem
as confidence, with a single outlier defining is as cocky or grumpy. The lack
of clear definition implies it would be necessary in an event with this age
group to provide a definition of self-esteem in terms that could be understood.
A trend in the things that made the child group feel good was relationships,
primarily with family. A trend in the things that made the child group feel
self-conscious was related to friends treating them a certain way. One respondent
said she did not like it when her friends called her “midget.” Two said they
felt badly when their friends did not allow them to be helpful. One response
stood out in the level of seriousness. One 12-year-old respondent said she felt
most self-conscious at the time when her sister was raped. As far as
intervention, the most respondents would prefer an event where they meet with
their peers and talk about self-esteem as opposed to doing an activity. They most
want to talk about self worth (2 respondents), stress management (2
respondents), and not thinking badly about self (3 respondents). It is
important to note there are not many respondents in this group.
The adolescents, defined as age 13
to age 17 for the purpose of reporting results, defined self-esteem mostly as
how you feel about yourself and others. They grasped the feelings about self,
but seemed to conflate it with how they feel about others and/or how other felt
about them. Again, a more clear definition should be provided during
intervention stage. Like the child group, the adolescents often responded that
“friends” or “family” made them feel good. Again similar to the children, the
adolescents reported feeling most self-conscious when facing peers. Some
responses were when people judged her personality, when people judged her
appearance, being fat, and “when people mention having things I don’t.” In
order to cope with feeling down, the adolescents often reported wanting to eat
for comfort. There was also a trend of talking to someone about feeling bad as
a way of feeling better. All of the respondents said the format they would most
prefer for an event with their peers would be to talk about it. The topics they
want to discuss are body image (5 respondents), stress management (3
respondents), not thinking badly about self (3 respondents), media (3
respondents), and self-worth (3 respondents).
The adults’, defined as age 18 and
up for the purpose of reporting results, definitions of self-esteem varied
substantially. However, they all seemed to reflect a basic understanding of the
principle of self-esteem. One example is “being comfortable with myself, enough
to be me without concern of others, but being aware of yourself and of your
environment.” Another respondent reflected that her “ideal self-esteem would be
a constant sense of worth that comes from within.” The main area respondents
struggled with in regard to their self-esteem was body image in some form. A
few other examples of responses were “forgiving self for the past,” worrying
what friends think, and “English.” There were many answers that varied greatly
for situations that most impacted self-consciousness. Some examples given were
interviews, around large groups of people, during sex, and in regard to the
law. In response to the question on who had impacted their self-esteem, women
mostly mentioned friends and family, including partners. Several also reflected
that many women in their life talk about their bodies negatively and they think
that is a bad thing. One respondent reflected “I surround myself with really
strong women—helped me develop my own self-esteem. I notice when I am around
women who talk less of themselves I find myself questioning me.” This quote
really shows the respondent was thoughtful about this and feels it plays a large
role in her life. Most respondents seemed to think the comments of other women
about their own bodies had influenced them. The topics the women wanted an
event focused on were positive self-talk (7 respondents), self-worth (6
respondents), body image (5 respondents), and coping skills (5 respondents). In
general, and this was the case for the children and adolescents as well, the
responses to the Likert Scale questions indicated a positive appraisal of self.
However, it is important to note that even with that being the case, it’s clear
from the surveys that each respondent still could think of something they
wanted to change about their bodies and times they had felt self-conscious.
Therefore, even in situations where self-appraisal is generally positive,
self-esteem is still an issue. It is also important to remember the anecdotal
evidence provided by Yen at the beginning of our search for what to do in
collaboration with the YWCA.
Summary of Factors Using Literature
The groups
prior literature research indicates that being in abusive relationships is
positively correlated with lower self-esteem, which turns into a cyclical issue
of maintaining the relationship leading to lower and lower self-evaluation
(Lynch, 2013). Similarly, Maestas’ research shows that women who are devalued
by partners are more likely to have low self-esteem (2008). Barusch
additionally notes that women who are survivors of domestic violence often face
“community disapproval” because it is assumed they played some part in inciting
the violence (2015, p.393). This is particular relevant to our population,
which, at for the initial intervention, will all be individuals involved with
the Women in Jeopardy program at the YWCA.
The
systemic issue of sexism also feel very relevant to the situation, since men
have not been showed to struggle with self-esteem in the same way women do. One
article by Oswald, Franzoi, and Frost emphasizes that women who are attempting
to live up to unrealistic body standards, specifically thinness, they are more
likely to negatively assess themselves (2012). Another article by Gregus,
Runmell, Rankin, and Levant shows that a woman who has low self-esteem is more
susceptible to sexual objectification (2014). This issue is again cyclical as
objectification negatively impacts self-esteem. Systemic pressures on women to
appear and behave in certain way have lead to this issue. In relation to body
image, the research has shown that adolescents are particularly susceptible to
negative body image. Derkintiene states “it has been estimated that seven out
of ten girls express their dissatisfaction with their body image by pursuing an
idea of a thinner body” (2012, p.30). The survey results seem to reflect this
concern in the adolescents, who were concerned about weight.
One
factor that came up in a survey that the group did not previously look at was
the impact not being fluent in the dominant language might have on individual
self-esteem. One article on Latino adolescents notes, “bilingual children are
often treated ‘as babies’ or spoken to in a condescending fashion because of
their limited proficiency in English” (Cavazos-Rehg & DeLucia-Waack, 2009,
p.47-48). Though the respondent who cited Spanish as a source of lower
self-evaluation was an adult, it is still a relevant factor to consider. Due to
scope, our action plan may not be able to directly address this issue. However,
it is something to pass on as a consideration for future work on self-esteem by
the YWCA.
Action Plan
Due to the limited scope of what we
are allowed to do as part of our collaboration with the YWCA, we have
determined the most appropriate option for addressing the issue is having a
community event centered on the idea of women’s self-esteem. Low self-esteem in
women is clearly a systemic issue we you the unfair and often conflicting
expectations put on women, especially regarding appearance. The major goal of
our intervention would be education and empowerment. Pyles defines empowerment
“as increasing the levels of social understanding, community engagement, and/
or personal power and efficacy of individual and groups (2014, p. 14). Due to
the preferences from the survey, we will primarily make the event dialogue
based. This dialogue format allows the community women to participate instead
of being talked to by an “expert.” The idea is that they are already experts on
their own experience of self-esteem. We
would just facilitate a space that allows for a hands on opportunity to learn
how to dialogue about self-esteem.
Pyles
also notes that empowerment may arise through “consciousness raising” or
“engagement in leadership roles” which is ideally what our project would do
(2014, p.14). We hope the education and
skills from the event will provide an opportunity for community members to
spread information and facilitate/engage in their own discussions. Since we are
meeting with individuals from the shelter, we are hopeful that they can take on
leadership roles in beginning the tradition of an annual event focused on
self-esteem, allowing them to play a key role in the solution. As Mineri notes,
“leadership development significantly deepens the involvement of members” and
“is one of an organizer’s primary responsibilities (2007, p.82). The dialogue
format of the event will also lead to “sharing power” which Mineri cites as a
key factor in making leadership development an ongoing factor (2007, p.86).
Learning how to facilitate meaningful discussion on this issue could lead to
individuals becoming involved as leaders.
Working
in collaboration with Yen, the volunteer coordinator at the YWCA, we hope to
form a task force to continue a tradition of an event like this on a yearly basis.
Though this year we were not able to be a part of the YWCA’s Women’s Week, in
the future we hope that it can be part of that set of events. In order to gage
interest in future involvement, we will carry out a post-event questionnaire
that asks likert scale questions about how the event went, asks for suggestions
for future events, and allows the individual to provide contact information if
they would like to be involved with future planning. Since our group does not
have lasting connections with the YWCA, Yen will use the responses to pursue a
future event. The group and Yen can also use the post-event surveys to
determine how this event went and how it can be improved in the future.
This
solution comes primarily from the lens of a feminist social change model. It
emphasizes the systemic nature of sexism and attempts to use empowerment to
work towards a community solution on the issue. Pyles says that empowerment is
“rooted in and related to feminist strengths perspectives” (2014, p.14).
Another feminist factor that we are trying to address intersectionality of
identities. Gonzalez notes that we need to “rethink identity in ways that
account for the multiplicity that characterizes every identity” because “the
intersections of social categories—race, gender, class, and so on—are essential
for understanding contemporary issues” (2008, p.28). We hope to take into
account factors of intersectionality moving forward, since they are relevant
both to empowerment and systemic factors impacting self-esteem.
References
Barusch, A.S. (2015). Foundations of
social policy: Social justice in human perspective (5th ed.).
Stamford, CT: Cengage.
Cavazos-Rehg, P.A. & DeLucia-Waack,
J.L. (2009). Education, ethnic identity, and acculturation as predictors of
self-esteem in Latino adolescents. Journal
of Counseling and Development, 87, 47-54.
Derkintiene, S. (2012). Gender
differences in body image perception among 8th grade pupils. Education, Physical Training, Sport (87),
4, 5-83.
Gonzalez, M.M. (2008). Feminist praxis
challenges the identity question: Toward new collective identity metaphors. Hypatia, 23(3), 22-38.
Gregus, S. J., Rummell, C. M., Rankin, T.
J. & Levant, R. F. (2014). Women’s experiences of sexual attention: A
cross-sectional study of U.S. university students. International journal of sexual health, 26 (4), 239-257.
Lynch, S. M. (2013). Not good enough on a
tether: Exploring how violent relationships impact women’s sense of self. Psychodynamic psychiatry, 41(2), 219-246.
Maestas, K. L., Amidon, A.,
Baum, E.S., Chrisman, J. G., Durham, J.A., Rooney, S.B., … Swann Jr., W. B.
(2008) Partner devaluation is associated with depression symptoms among
depression vulnerable women with low self-esteem. Journal of social and clinical psychology, 27 (6), 621-640.
Mineri, J. (2007). Developing leaders
from all walks of life. In Mineri, J. & Gestsos, P. (Eds), Tools for radical democracy (81-107). New
York City, NY: Jossey-Bass.
Oswald, D. L., Franzoi, S. L. &
Frost, K. A. (2012). Experiencing sexism and young women’s body esteem. Journal of social and clinical psychology, 31(10), 1112-1137.
Pyles, L. (2014). Progressive community
organizing: Reflective practice in a globalizing world (2nd ed.).
New York City, NY: Routledge.
