PREREQUISITES OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM

Without proper self-valuing, we cannot pursue meaningful things instead we are in the web of devaluing ourselves and doing nothing meaningful to boast their value thereby at the risk of not fulfilling their true potentials. These ones have not taken initiative to set goal and pursue it or even when they do, they do not put effort to pursue them.

Prerequisites of low self-esteem is the causes of low self-esteem and this could be hard to identify, there is no one cause for everybody that is people suffer from low self-esteem for variety of reasons. We would be looking at some factors that causes low self-esteem;

1. Negligent/ uninvolved parents: Parents have a role to play in the kind of self-esteem their children develop either high or low self-esteem. They can contribute to this by many factors which includes;

• Comparison by parent: Many parents compare their children either between themselves or with other people. They tend to say words like “why can't you be more like your brother!” or “when I was your age, I was better!” not bearing in mind the uniqueness of each individual and the fact that you can work on any area of the child you are not comfortable with;

• Lack of love or care by Parents; some parents don’t really show care to their children. They feel it’s by making everything they need available for them. Sometimes they need that warm hug, word of advice, word of affirmation etc. 

• Praising them only when they act in a certain way and other times making them feel they are nothing: this makes the children feel that it’s only when they act in a certain way that they have worth.

2. Teenage Pregnancy: exposure to premarital sex either by sexual abuse or illicit sexual affair usually results in teenage pregnancy which becomes a big embarrassment to the girl involved. It usually brings a lot of physical and emotional problems. The girl in most cases eventually becomes stigmatized, ridiculed, abandoned and pushed away by friends and family. This leaves a heavy toll on her causing her to lose any value of self-worth she has. 

3. Association: being in the company or association of people that look down on you and downgrade you can bring about low self-esteem. Being in the company of friends that reduce you, subtract from you and even want to bring you to nothing can affect your mind, making you feel that you are of no worth. These friends tend to disrespect you, mock your opinions, pressure you to do the things you are not actually comfortable with making you feel that something is wrong with you and that you have nothing to offer but to just do the thing others like.