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A personal identity, level of self-esteem, and body image are all incredibly important to an individual's mental health and well-being.
Personal identity refers to how a person sees themselves and it is very closely linked to self-esteem and body image. Personal identity I'd the way people see themselves and it is an important part of it because it affects the way people feel about themselves and how they behave in situations. Personal identity is what makes a person unique it is their values, characteristics, and personality. As a part of growing up people will establish their own personal identity, their feelings and experiences will build their level of self-esteem and inform their mental well-being. When establishing personal identity, self-esteem, and body image it is important that children and young people learn not to compare themselves to other people unfortunately this seems to be a problem in modern society, especially with areas such as social media, Instagram, they are pushing what they think are socially acceptable ideas of what they should look like but many looks are unachievable and in some instances unhealthy especially when images used are photoshopped or have filters applied. Being bombarded with images of particular types of looks or body shapes is potentially damaging to people who are trying to find their own personal identity and those that may have low self-esteem. They will be trying to achieve goals or targets to form their well-being which are just unsuitable for them and as mentioned before damaging as potentially they are unable to reach the goals and targets they are setting and this, therefore, reduces their chances of mental well-being. Both boys and girls can be affected by seeing images of people looking a certain way and this can affect them and increase their chances of self-harming and having eating disorders as a result of guilt and shame and wanting to achieve the perfect look or body image and not being able to. Low self-esteem and a poor body image can lead to negative self-talk, low mood, anxiety, and increased isolation. Research has found that after conducting interviews with 5,165 girls aged between 10 -17 that more than half of the girls that have low body esteem struggle to be assertive. The majority of those girls skipped meals and isolated themselves from friends and family. It also noted that in the UK 9 out of 10 girls with low body esteem stopped themselves from eating even though there was a risk to their health. This shows just how damaging the effects of low self-esteem and body image can have and that these effects can be long-lasting and extremely detrimental to one's mental and physical health.
It would seem that low self-esteem and body image are affecting children at a younger age and that an increasing number of boys are also being affected. This has been noted to be a result of social media and the images that celebrities portray on their own pages. The pressure of what you look like is becoming more and more and unfortunately, those of an impressionable nature or those from risk groups can be greatly affected by seeing such images. Appearance is also one of the main causes of bullying in school. This could be from a body image point of view but also from a materialistic what are you wearing point of view. Has the person got their hair the 'in' color or do they have the latest designer top? This in itself can affect someone's personal identity as they may not like the 'in' clothes and want to be more unique in their identity but they may feel pressure from those around them and be bullied to be like others.
There are organizations and groups that are looking to help increase people's body image such as the Be Real Campaign where individuals and businesses can sign up to be more diverse in their marketing, use fewer filters or photoshop and be more inclusive. The networks are slowly gaining support which is great and means that children and young people will slowly get to see a more realistic representation of body image and learn that we are all amazing and should celebrate who we are and build positive self-esteem and body image so that we do not suffer from possible mental health concerns in later life.
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