Many of us think we know what self-esteem is, but do we? How does self-esteem impact our daily lives? Equally what things play a role in our self esteem, and are these things different between men and women, and do they change as we go through our lives?
People suffering with issues such as depression or anxiety often suffer from low self-esteem, so understanding self esteem is an important issue.
In a recent survey conducted by the College of Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CCBH), a number of self-esteem based questions were raised and the results were rather interesting…
Male Female divide
When asked to rank how you feel about your own self-esteem, there was a clear difference between the answers men gave to those of women (although we should point out at this point that 71% of the people who answered the survey were women). The average self esteem score for females was ranked at 5.66 (0 being no self esteem and 10 being the highest amount). The average score for men was higher, at 5.8, so there wasn’t a large difference between the two.
Noticeably, there is was small difference between men and women when it came to financial situation. Men were slightly more concerned with this, and 53% stated that this has a big impact on their self esteem and 50% of women agreed.
When it came to body shape, 59% of women stated it had an impact on their self esteem; men were less worried, with only 45% stating their self esteem is impacted by their body shape and size. 27% of men surveyed said not being as slim as they would like, had an impact on their self esteem, whereas 46% of women said it had an impact. Yet more men (48%) stated that if someone doesn’t find them
attractive, then it had an impact on their self esteem, while only 33% of women said it had an impact on them. This is interesting then – could women’s self-esteem be affected more by how they view their own appearance, while men’s is affected more by how they think others view them? What do you think?
When we look at being happy in a relationship, 54% of women stated this had an impact on their self esteem, while only 45% of men agreed.
Another big divide though is shown when we look at how our self esteem is effected by having someone criticise us, or when we are unappreciated. 63% of men said this had an effect on them, while a whopping 77% of women said it played a big part in their self esteem.
Where are men and women similar?
It seems when it comes to work, the differences between men and women are far smaller.
67% of females surveyed stated that making a mistake at work had a big impact on their self esteem. The figure for men wasn’t that different; with 65% agreeing. Regarding success in work, the difference between men and women, was again very small. 62% of women felt success at work had an impact on their self esteem, and 60% of men surveyed agreed with.
Interestingly, being single had a similar impact on self esteem for both men and women, with around 22% being questioned stating it had an impact.
Does age make a difference?
More women took the time to enter the survey, and as such, CCBH looked at different responses to answers based on their age ranges. Focusing in on the 26-35 year old females, we notice different impacts on their self esteem, compared to the full age range of female respondents (26-70+).
Looking at the workplace, it was interesting that both age groups had similar views on how success or failure at work impacted their self esteem.
However, the difference comes when we ask questions about our body size and shape. 59% of all women surveyed said their body size and shape impacted on their self esteem. This figure rockets to 71% of those between the ages of 26-35. Similar gaps are shown when asked about whether feeling attractive or not, impacted on self esteem. 63% of all women surveyed noted that it did, while again, this figure jumps massively for the age range 26-35, to 76%.
Big differences are also apparent when it comes to people liking us, with 48% of all women surveyed stating that this had an impact, while 71% of women aged 26-35 felt this played on their self esteem.
The tables are turned though when we look at feeling unappreciated and criticised. It seems that for the younger age range this impacted less on self esteem, with only 58% of them stating it played a part. However, looking at all the women surveyed, 77% felt this played a part in their self esteem…
Impacts on self esteem
What these figures highlight is that different factors for genders may have an impact on our self esteem. It also shows that as we age, different things may impact our self esteem at different times in our lives, so self esteem is an ever changing thing within our lives.
Throughout our lives we need to use a variety of tools to deal with self esteem, and the factors that play a part in affecting our self esteem, for good or worse. The College of Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is running a master class course, which is open to anyone, and is designed to provide people with all the tools they need to take solve their self esteem problems, no matter what the factors are that impact us.
For more information on Self Esteem and the CCBH self esteem master class, please visit their website http://www.ccbh.org.uk/Hypnotherapy_course_for_self_esteem
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