Cornell psychology research indicates that providing teenagers with opportunities to affirm positive aspects of their identities can enhance their self-esteem and facilitate smoother transitions to high school.
In a study with nearly 400 ninth graders, those who wrote essays about their important identities or values maintained or improved their self-esteem over the year, while their peers who did not participate experienced a significant decline in self-esteem, a common occurrence when starting high school.
The study highlights the potential benefits of identity-based affirmations, alongside the more extensively studied values-based affirmations, during a critical period when teens are forming and becoming aware of their identities.
Adam Hoffman, assistant professor at Cornell, emphasizes that since self-esteem is partly derived from social identities, fostering positive socialization of these identities can lead to better mental health and overall well-being for adolescents.
Hoffman, co-author of the study published in Developmental Psychology, points out that self-esteem typically declines among adolescents as they enter high school due to new social challenges and self-comparisons in academics and extracurricular activities.
The study aimed to find ways to mitigate these normative dips in self-esteem by encouraging positive reflections on personal identities and values.
The research, involving a diverse sample of 388 ninth and tenth graders from Michigan, divided participants into three groups: one reflecting on personal identities, another on values, and a control group writing about daily routines.
Results showed that self-esteem remained steady for the identity and value groups but declined for the control group, suggesting significant positive effects of the interventions, even during the stress-inducing COVID-19 pandemic.
The authors propose that schools, counselors, and parents can implement such affirmations with minimal effort to help teens feel better about themselves during high school transitions.
Simple writing exercises conducted a few times a year can significantly bolster self-esteem, making these interventions practical and beneficial for adolescent mental health.
