Question

what is the possible impact on self esteem of an adolescent who move to a new school.

Psycology

Answer 1

Self esteem refers to a person's overall sense of his or her value or worth about oneself. It can be regarded as having stable and unstable characteristics. As the certain events in life like success and failure affects how the person feels about himself .

School transition can be very exciting for some and may be a stressful events for many as it involves changes in academic demand and social contexts .The other factors which can impact an adolescent's self esteem in a new school is a strict grading system, comparison amongst the students, acceptance by peer group etc . An adolescent can sustain this transition period well if his perception of himself about his physical appearances , scholastic competence , athletic competence , behavioural conduct is high . Mostly the adolescents need to feel safe in the new school environment as the transition brings a sense of fear which is often relived in fewer weeks if the school environment is supportive .It is also found that students who receive an emotional and social support from teachers and peers report to have a higher self esteem and lower depressive symptoms. Whereas it is found that when teacher's restrict a child's freedom in learning after transition it can create a decline in learning outcome thus impacting one's self esteem .

To conclude I would like to make a special mention of Jean Piaget that children can assimilate the environmental changes by altering their psychological schema . During the time of transition they can be less emotionally dependent of teachers and they become less personal to them . Also in line with Jean Piaget's theory a student can accommodate the changes within his mental structure for example the loss of achievements can be regarded as due to strict school grading system than a personal failure . Overall the new school bring a set of challenges but how a person deals with it affects his or her self esteem .