Gender Identity and Self-esteem of Adolescent Girls

Gender identity was defined as the identification and awareness that individuals had of themselves as being either male or female (Bem, 1974). Such awareness was then being internalized into one’s self-concept. This sense of maleness or femaleness did not result only from the biological influence; it was rather a combination of psychic influences and the environmental effects of family and cultural attitudes.

Researchers had showed that gender identity of adolescent girls was closely related to self-esteem of the individual.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) had conducted several studies that attempted to depict the lives of school-aged girls. How Schools Shortchanges Girls (AAUW, 1992) discussed the absence of girls in the current debate on education and reviewed the development of gender roles. The research revealed that teachers gave more classroom attention and more esteem-building encouragement to boys while girls received significantly less attention from teachers.

It also disclosed that girls in school were not as confident and self-esteemed as boys.

Classroom activities chosen by the educators were more appeal to boys’ interests than

to girls’, and the teacher-student interaction patters in science classes were often biased. The AAUW report then concluded that the contributions and experiences of female were still marginalized or ignored in the United States. The study also showed that although males and females suffered from declines in self-esteem during adolescence, it was particularly serious for adolescent girls. The study revealed that girls attempted suicide four to five times as often as boys. It was remarkable that roles assigned to young women by the society were less valuable than of males. As a result, adolescent girls were downgraded when facing the process of maturity. Girls from low socioeconomic families faced particularly severe obstacles.

Santrock (2008) also noted that both boys and girls had higher self-esteem before and after adolescence. When adolescents developed or gained self-confidence as young adults, their self-esteem would then rise. Although adolescent girls and boys had a lower self-esteem from ages thirteen to eighteen, it was notable that girls’

self-esteem was twice as low as boys. Adolescents were learning to cope with changes while concerned with self-image, self-esteem, social expectations and academic achievement. They were trying to find out who they are, what they were about, and where they were going. Resolving conflicts during adolescence helped adolescents became who they would be, unique individuals, and progressing further into higher developmental stages.

Sadker and Sadker (1995) symbolically portrayed the academic and self-esteem declines many females experience in the following passages.

When viewing an exhibit of photographs, we were drawn to one particular image, that of a six-year old girl. She had climbed arduously to the top of a tail playground slide, and there she stood on her sturdy legs, with her head thrown back and her arms flung wide. As ruler of the playground, she was at the very zenith of her world. The image aroused us because the camera had captured a

proud and perfect time, and for too many girls, such times are short-lived.

Poised between preschool and adolescence, the girl in the photo is full of energy, self-reliance, and purpose. She feels confident about what she can do and who she can become (p.77).

After the above description, the researchers compared the arrival of adolescence in females to the tightening of a corset that limited their dreams and talents until they assumed the chameleon-like persona subtly suggested by society. This influence from society was then projected upon the young girl on the playground.

If the camera had photographed the girl on the slide half a dozen years later, at twelve instead of six, it would have captured a very different pose. Her arms would no longer have been open, leaving her vulnerable as she embraced the world; she would have been looking at the ground instead of the sky; her sense of self-worth would have been an accelerating downward spiral... (p. 78).

This illustration captured loss of self-esteem of a girl that happened so widely among the society as she shaped her way through adolescence.

Marsh & Yeung (1998) did a research documented differences in the academic self-concepts of males and females. In a longitudinal study, they found that Math and English self-conceptshad significant path coefficients leading to subsequent school grades, coursework selection, and standardized test scores.Unlike previous studies, this research found these relations to bevery domain specific. Girls received higher scoresfor English and Math in school grades, but theyhad lower math self-concepts.

Whereas similar studies conductedover the past 20 years found diminishing gender differences,these data showed relative gains for girls in achievement andcoursework selection for both mathematics and English.

Powell (2004) indicated that adolescent girls had many identity conflicts and low self-esteem so that their school success and development of a health identity had

been affected. To have a better understanding of this process, she analyzed the constitution of female gender identity from a psychoanalytical perspective. She found that only if the adolescents accepted new roles and assumed challenging responsibilities, that they could face their conflicts to develop their unique individuation process. Adolescents needed opportunities to face challenges, take responsibilities, and to experience the process of becoming a totally independent individual. Schools needed to provide a supportive and interactive environment so that adolescent girls could have adequate opportunities building their self-esteem or confidence to develop their own unique identity.

DuBois, Burk-Braxton, Swenson, Tevendale, & Hardesty (2002) conducted an empirical research on race and gender influences on adjustment in early adolescence period. They used a sample of 350 young adolescents with an equivalent ration on both racial and gender category. In the proposed model, prejudice/discrimination events, race and gender hassles, all contributed to a general stress context. The stress context influenced levels of emotional and behavioral problems in adjustment, with these associations mediated by intervening effects on self-esteem. Gender identity, they pointed out, had positive effects on adjustment via their intermediary linkages with self-esteem. Findings revealed that that there is a direct effect of gender identity on self-esteem specific to girls.

In summary, although both genders suffered from self-decline during adolescence, it was particularly difficult for girls (AAUW, 1992; Santrock, 2008).

Self-esteem of girls could be twice as low as of boys (Santrock, 2008) while their attempts to suicide was four to five times as often as boys ( AAUW, 1992). Sadker and Sadker (1995) depicted the self-esteem decline in adolescent girls through a picture image vividly and this stance had further been supported by other researchers from the perspective of academic achievement and self-concepts (DuBois et al., 2002;

Marsh & Yeung, 1998; Powell, 2004). As a result, it could be concluded that females suffered more during adolescence, and if they did not build self-esteem during this period, their school achievements as well as health would be affected. Comparing to young males, young females had a more difficult task to build gender identity during their adolescence.