Self-esteem and sexual behaviors in the youth - Essay Example

Self-Esteem and Sexual Behaviors in the Youth al Affiliation Self-Esteem and Sexual Behaviors In The Youth Low self-esteem is what makes the youths believe that their lives are worthless. Persons with low self-esteem grow up with a sense that they have no purpose and that their damaged self-sense makes them harm others. The consequences of low self-esteem are noticeable during the early stages of life particularly puberty. Puberty is the stage where self-doubt among teenagers is at its peak. If the self-doubt combines with low self-esteem, the consequences could be severe. In order to help the youth to overcome such challenges, one needs to have an understanding of low self-esteem. I prefer this topic since I am interested in increasing awareness about the consequences of low self-esteem on sexual behaviors. The article’s objective is to summarize the research findings of self-esteem and related behavioral consequences among the youth. According to Dawson et al., (2008), male youth with low self-esteem are likely to have sex for intimacy or desire. Adolescents with low self-esteem are interested in validating or enhancing their self-worth, and they consider sex as the best way to do it. Robinson, Holmberg, and Paikoff (2007) also discovered that males are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse by self-esteem reasons. On the other hand, adolescents with low self-esteem engage in sex because of affect management reasons. Whitaker, Miller, and Clark (2000) found that adolescents who have not had sex but had a high expectation of doing it in the next year are likely to have lower self-esteem. Goodson et al. (2006) found that a higher self-esteem promotes experimentation in sexual activity. Favara (2013), found that higher self-esteem among girls reduces early sexual intercourse. Also, an increase in self-esteem reduces the number of girls’ sexual partners. Conversely, an increase in self-esteem among boys increases the number of sexual partners. An increase in self-esteem among girls increases the chance of using condoms or contraceptives. However, an increase in self-esteem reduces the chances of using a condom among boys in the lowest rank of self-esteem. According to Chapman and Werner-Wilson (2008), adolescents with higher self-esteem are likely to have positive attitudes towards sex. For instance, they tend to be comfortable with sex; they can talk freely about it. On the contrary, adolescents with lower self-esteem do not prefer to talk about sex. Most of them think that sex brings trouble to individuals. According to Morris, Young, and Jones (2000), there are three categories of self-esteem associated with adolescents’ sexual behavior. They include school self-esteem, home self-esteem, and peer self-esteem. Adolescents with higher school self-esteem are likely to have sex regularly, at least once every month. On the other hand, adolescents with higher home self-esteem are likely to be conservative; most of them are non-virgins who choose to abstain from sex. Adolescents with higher peer self-esteem are likely to participate in sexual intercourse prior to marriage. To them, sexual experience is a means of getting accepted by peers. Wild et al. (2004) found that low family self-esteem is associated with risky sexual behaviors for both sexes. Adolescent males with low school self-esteem are likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. On the contrary, female adolescents with low peer self-esteem are unlikely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Emler (2001) found that a lower self-esteem increases unwanted pregnancies among girls. According to O’Sullivan, Meyer-Bahlburg, and McKeague (2006), Sexual Agency, Sexual Arousability, and Negative Sexual Affect are the reliable dimensions of female adolescents’ sexual self-concepts. Both Sexual Arousability and Sexual Agency are correlated with positive sexual self-esteem. Girls in this category express intentions of engaging in intercourse in the near future. On the contrary, girls with Negative Sexual Affect are associated with substantial abstinence attitudes. According to Brooks-Gunn and Furstenberg (1989), family, companions, and groups all affected the choice to start taking part in sex. Later studies discovered extra components, including yearning, media, and inborn natural variables as purposes behind young people to wind up occupied with right on time sexual movement.Late research discoveries point to financial status, particularly destitution, and neighborhood conditions as elements (Browning, Burrington, Leventhal, & Brooks-Gunn, 2008). Scientists found that: female young people in groups with higher dangerous conduct rates and low social capital; and teenagers in groups with more noteworthy wrongdoing and brutality were more inclined to take part in hazardous practices (Youngblade, 2006). According to Wellings, Collumbien, Slaymaker, Singh, Hodges, Patel, &Bajos, (2006), early sexual introduction can be ascribed to the expanded commonness of premarital sex in light of the deferral in the period of first marriage.As per the Youth Risk Behavior Survey,(YRBS, 2009), about a large portion of (46%) of secondary school understudies over the United States reported having had sex with 21% confessing to being sexually dynamic(National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2010). Taking part in hazardous sexual conduct is an expense for the non-matured wellbeing, as well as represents an issue for citizens on the grounds that they need to reserve assets for teenage pregnancy and youthful sexual wellbeing anticipation and unanticipated results. Sulak (2004) estimate that yearly cost to give assets to pregnant adolescents is $29 billion, while the lifetime costs for individuals who have gotten a STD amid the ages of 15 to 24 are roughly $6.5 billion. As specialists progressively esteem proof based avoidance deliberations and activities, it is essential to comprehend what impacts young people to start taking part in sexual practices. A study of 12 to 19-year olds reported that 47 percent of youth felt their guardians had the most impact on their decisions about sex (Ikramullah, Manlove, Cui, & Moore, 2009). Youth is the first phase of autonomy from parental effect because of the expanded inclusion with associate systems outside of the home. Young people may trait their decisions about sex to parental observing, which causes youths to either lessen their contribution in sexual practices or with sexually active companions due to fear of being criticized by folks (Xiamong, Feigelman, & Stanton, 2000). Parents get to be screens, as well as go about as administrators and controllers for the pre-adults choice making methodology take part in unsafe sexual conduct. These components are just related if the guardian takes a dynamic part in juveniles life. A general decent, positive relationship in the middle of guardian and child has been found to postpone sexual encounters for youths (Ikramullah et al., 2009). To the opinion of Pearson, Muller, & Frisco, (2006), these relationship permits both guardian and child to create better lines of correspondence, which will consider the probability of them having an open dialog about sex. According to Commendador (2010), youths with close parental connections profit from respect toward oneself and certainty. Despite the fact that it was demonstrated that respect toward oneself was one of the key elements that deferred sexual presentation, no relationship was found to connection respect toward oneself and immature preventative conduct. There is a conceivable state of void for teenagers who dont have a natural father introduce in the home. According to Baumrind (1991), fathers who have a dictator, lenient, or uninvolved child rearing style will have young people who are more inclined to encountering antagonistic conclusions. Larger amounts of father inclusion are connected with a diminished danger of right on time young people participating in dangerous sexual conduct. In any case, the relationship betweenthe measure of years of parent association in a youngsters life and sexual conduct in the right on time youthfulness stays to be investigated. References Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competent and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56-95. Brooks-Gunn, J., & Furstenberg, F. (1989). Adolescent sexual behavior. American Psychologist, 44(2), 249-57. Browning, C.R., Burrington, L.A., Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2008). Neighborhood structural inequality, collective efficacy, and sexual risk behavior among urban youth. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 49(3), 269-285. Chapman, E.N. & Werner-Wilson, J.R. (2008). Does positive youth development predict adolescent attitudes about sexuality? Adolescence 43(171), Commendador, K. A. (2010). Parental influences on adolescent decision making and contraceptive use. Pediatric Nursing, 36(3), 147-170. Dawson, L.H., Shih, M.C., De Moor, C., & Shrier, L. (2008). Reasons why adolescents and young adults have sex: associations with psychological characteristics and sexual behavior. Journal of Sex Research 45(3), 225–232. Emler N. (2001). Self-esteem: the costs and causes of low self-worth. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/1859352510.pdf Favara, M. (2013, January). Is self-esteem a “double edged sword”? Self-esteem and the onset of adolescent sexual activity. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://ftp.iza.org/dp7171.pdf Goodson, P., Buhi, E.R., & Dunsmore, S.C. (2006). Self-esteem and adolescent sexual behaviors, attitudes, and intentions: a systematic review. Journal of Adolescent Health 38, 310-319. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://health.usf.edu/NR/rdonlyres/77C65417-AE66-498A-9281-6D4F5A662DB7/0/GoodsonBuhiDunsmore2006.pdf Ikramullah, E., Manlove, J., Cui, C., & Moore, K. A. (2009). Parents matter: the role of parents in teens’ decisions about sex. Child Trends. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_11_11_RB_Parents&TeenSex.pdf Morris, J., Young, M., & Jones, C. (2000). Self-esteem and adolescent sexual behavior among students at an elite Bolivian school. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://publichealth.nmsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Elementary-School-Teachers-Guide.pdf National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. (2010). Teen sexual behavior and contraceptive use: data from the youth risk behavior survey, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2014 from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_11_11_RB_Parents&TeenSex.pdf Pearson, J., Muller, C., & Frisco, M.L. (2006). Parental involvement, family structure, and adolescent sexual decision making. Sociological Perspectives, 49(1), 67-90. Robinson, M.L., Holmberg, G.N, and Paikoff, R. (2007, May). Self-esteem enhancing reasons for having sex and the sexual behaviors of African American adolescents. Journal of youth adolescence 36, 453-464. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-006-9116-8#page-1 Sulak, P. J. (2004). 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Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://psyc526final.wikispaces.com/file/view/Self+Esteem+and+Risk+Behavior.pdf Youngblade, L. M., Curry, L. A., Novak, M., Vogel, B., & Shenkman, E. A. (2006). The impact of community risks and resources on adolescent risky behavior and health care expenditures. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38, 486-494. Xiamong, L., Feigelman, S., & Stanton, B. (2000). Perceived parental monitoring and health risk behaviors among urban low-income African-American children and adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 43-48. Read More