Family Bonding and Its Impact on Self-Esteem An Explorative Study on the Impact of an Individual’s Self–Esteem on Performance

The family is one of the most important elements that play a vital role in shaping human character. Humans, from birth until death, grow in the family. Physical, psychological, and social evolution of a man originates in the family. Family, as the most basic unit of society and traditionally the first and the most important provider of health care to its members, is a unique whole and has its specific functions, structures, and needs. If the family, as a social institution, performs its roles accurately, it not only provides the society with healthy and normal individuals, but also has the greatest positive impact on other social institutions such as education, the government and legal system, and the economy. Several studies have shown that family environment, family functioning, and parental patterns affect the physical and mental health of adolescents. Silborn et al. have stated in this regard that the function of the family impacts the physical, social, and emotional health of the children. In fact, what happens within a family and its functions can be a key factor in building flexibility and reducing the current and future risks associated with adverse events and conditions. Bahreini et al., in their study on the effect of parental attachment patterns on depression and self-esteem during adolescence, concluded that low parental care and tight control patterns have a significant relationship with depression and low self-esteem in adolescent girls. A study conducted by Walker and Shepherd showed that family problems could be the cause of educational and training failures, disintegration of social ties, social alienations, and alcohol and drug abuse. Overall, the results of previous studies suggest that dysfunctional families are a center in which crime grows, functional families can support and nurture their children, and any incompetency in the function of the family could adversely affect the child's norms.

i. To examine impact of Self-esteem on teenagers‘ Performances ii. To study the self-esteem of adolescents in urban areas. Specific i. To find out the factors depending in the self- esteem. ii. To find out the impact of environmental factors in formation of Self-esteem. iii. To find out gender wise difference in self esteem iv. Boys, if they have a very strict atmosphere at home and are not able to follow the so called ―Cool‖ crowd they become depressed and disturbed v. Girls do get disturbed by the Parental pressure related to societal norms

are treated in school by their teachers and other students on the basis of their academic performance. Survey Sample: Total 221 Candidates (105 Girls and 116 Boys) Age Group: 13 to 19 years Questionnaire: 55 Questions (MCQs) Family Bonding and its impact on self-esteem! This particular analysis is on the basis of results of three important questions out of the total 55 and the choice of answer had to be … Always/Never/Often/Sometimes 1. Do You and your family have a lot of fun together? 2. Do you get upset easily at home? 3. Does your family consider your feelings? Adolescence is a period of rapid physical and emotional changes and the transition period between childhood and adulthood. During this period, the person is faced with many problems and has a wide range of needs. Among these requirements, the need for self-esteem has a special place; satisfying this need can have a positive impact on other needs. As Nathaniel Branden wrote about importance of Self-esteem: "Positive self-esteem is important because when people experience it, they feel and look good, are effective and productive, and they respond to others and themselves in healthy, positive, growing ways. They know that they are lovable and capable, and care about themselves and others. They do not have to build themselves up by tearing others down or by patronizing less competent people". Typically, self-esteem gradually increases until adolescence, but during adolescence it often decreases. In this regard, Carlson and Gjerd believe that girls, compared to boys, experience a drastic reduction in self-esteem in early adolescence.

Q.1: Do You and your family have a lot of fun together? Data in % Very encouraging result! Percentage of boys and girls seems to be almost same. Only 2 to 3 % have answered NEVER, that means 97% of them spend time together sometime or other. Almost 45% have said ALWAYS, Indeed a very positive sign. This speaks about the family bonding and also that people try to find out time for each other. The misconception, which people have developed about modern society, that people don‘t care for each other or don‘t have time for each other is to a certain extent proved wrong. Q.2: Do you get upset easily at home? Data in % This speaks a lot about rearing and also emotional balance. We find that in total 81% of the students have said that they become upset, the answer is one of the following : Always/ Often / Sometime. Only 19% have said NEVER. Similarly if we try to analyze the data further we find that the percentages of Boys seem to be more balanced as compared to the girls. 25% of the boys have said they NEVER get upset, whereas only 12% girls have answered NEVER. Even for the ALWAYS and OFTEN choice Girls are more in number as

outnumber Girls. According to the previous question if we come to the conclusion that there is family bonding then what could be the reason for getting upset?! Need to Ponder!! Reason which has come out very clear is, in Metros or Urban areas there is a concept of Nuclear families and also small families with either two or only one Kid , which is the reason for more of pampering and attention which ultimately leads to unreasonable expectations and demands from the Kids‘ side and they become so used to getting their demands fulfilled, especially at a younger age that when they grow up as teenagers they still expect the same with more bigger unreasonable demands and easily get upset if not fulfilled. But if we try to further analyze and find out the reason for Girls getting more upset than the boys , very clear reason is the hormonal changes due to attainment of puberty at this stage, it leads to more of mood swings and depression due to internal turbulence and need to be handled with lot of care and empathy by the elders in the family. A key difference between the genders is the effect of puberty on the body. Adolescent females have greater dissatisfaction with their bodies than do males (Harter, 1999). For many girls the physical changes associated with early adolescence often coincide with significant drop in self-esteem levels (this is also compounded by puberty occurring during the transition from primary school). For girls the development on increased body fat and shape change can have a negative effect. Q.3 : Does your family consider your feelings? Data in % question 1 . Only 8.6% of the total number feel that their feelings are not being given weightage, but rest have answer as ALWAYS/ OFTEN / SOMETIME. We also find ALWAYS is the choice of the maximum number of students, be it boys or girls and we find boys seem to be more happier, 44.68 % feel their feelings are considered whereas girls are slightly behind by 43%. Reason could be that , in our Indian homes it‘s a common scenario that girls, especially if they are the elder ones, are mostly asked to make sacrifices for the little things with the reasoning that , you are the elder one you should understand or being a girl you need to be bit gentle and don‘t be aggressive etc. when such type of statements are heard by them time and again, even though with no intention to hurt , they get hurt and carry it to their later years too with the impression that parents are prejudiced against them or are biased towards their male siblings . Even for the NEVER choice we find more number of girls as compared to boys.

How would this impact the SELF-ESTEEM of an individual? Looking at the three analyses we come to the conclusion that we are more concerned about the results of Q.2 and Q.3, because Q.1 anyways gives us a very positive Picture. Positive or compatible relationship does impact the self-esteem. If a child / adolescent have family support and understanding he can be prepared to accept the challenges in the outside world knowing that he has his family to fall back upon. A sense of belonging is important in healthy human development as it helps us to combat behavioral and anxiety issues. A large part of a child‘s self-esteem comes from feeling that they have a place in the world where they belong to and matter to others. A child‘s self-esteem is based on knowing their roots and having confidence in their future. Children who feel like they belong have a source of emotional support and comfort, warmth and nurturing, protection, help and security. Studies conducted by Takeuchi et al. and Bahreini et al. also emphasize the positive relationship between warm, positive family relationships without tight control and low score of depression and high self-concept. These results confirm the findings of the present study. In fact, what is confirmed by the results is that while adolescents in search of independency and entering the adult world require freedom of action, they also need psychological support and approval from their parents. Thus, considering the relationship of parents with teenagers, educating and informing parents about positive or detrimental effects of each of these behavioral patterns, and raising awareness in the society in order to modify and enhance their

to share their ideas and interests, to demonstrate their abilities and gain personal recognition, all of which contribute to increased self-esteem. When a child feels that they fit into a group that validates them, they become stronger in their beliefs and attitudes, and have the courage to act on them. In this case, children see themselves as valuable and worthy, hold themselves with dignity and integrity, and are happier and more relaxed. As such, they are less likely to resort to negative coping strategies such as smoking, drinking too much, over or under eating, zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer or lashing out at others.

Brooker. (2008). A sense of belonging. Early Childhood Matters. Bernard van Leer Foundation: Netherlands. Fanning, C. (2008). How to create a sense of belonging in a family. Identity and Belonging. Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. The effects of parental bonding on depression and self-esteem in adolescence Bahreini M, Akaberian Sh, Ghodsbin F, Yazdankhah Fard MR, Mohammadi Baghmollaei M. Paul Ogunkoya. The relationship between family functioning and self-esteem in female high school students of Isfahan, Iran, in 2013–2014 Abdollah Rezaei-Dehaghani, Somayeh Paki,and Mahrokh Keshvari Witmer, D. (2014). 5 good reasons your teen needs a sense of belonging. Wood head, M. & L. www.self-esteem-school.com

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