Surviving Adolescence: Building Emotionally Strong Teenage Girls
Written by Elaine Wilson, Posted on , in Section Must Reads
Teen girls face some of the most challenging times of their lives during their teenage years.
There are changes to their bodies, their minds are developing, and they are trying to establish their identities – all while dealing with the hormones and emotions that go along with it. Even confident teens struggle. That’s why, as parents, we need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to make our daughters emotionally strong and emotionally healthy. We need to be building up teens to survive some of the nastiness that comes with adolescence, and improving self-esteem is the key to emotional strength and coming out on top.
Creating a Base
When self-esteem is low, teen girls tend to engage in self-defeating behaviors that breed negativity and feed an altered emotional state. In fact, low self-esteem can have such a detrimental effect on a teenager that it may lead to more severe mental health problems – like anxiety and depression – which can have catastrophic results. As they begin to try to cope, they may turn to engaging in self-harm (cutting), the may hurt others (cheating, bullying, physical violence), they may turn to drugs, they may develop eating disorders, or they may even engage in promiscuity. Yet, when a teenager is emotionally strong, many of these destructive behaviors can be avoided.
An article published by Trinity Teen Solutions, one of the leading treatment centers for teen girls, notes that “75% of teen low self-esteem have reported engaging in habits they know are unhealthy.” Conversely, only 25% of teen girls with high self-esteem engage in self-destructive behaviors. That’s a big difference. So, if this is truly the case, building up teens needs to be a top priority to keep our kids emotionally healthy – and improving self-esteem creates a base for them to stand on.
So how do you improve self-esteem in teen girls? Help them to readjust their thought processes. Remind them that all of their actions are worthy efforts, including the failures where there is an open opportunity to learn. You may also help them to think positive thoughts and shift away from negative thoughts, help them learn to accept compliments, and help them to focus on the things that go well in life, rather than simply what goes wrong. Sometimes recognizing what you are good at and helping those who struggle with it can provide a huge confidence boost. Plus, healthy bodies foster healthy thoughts and healthy minds, so exercise is important as well.
When You Can’t Do It Alone
Improving self-esteem allows teens to become emotionally strong and navigate the teen years confidently. But if your teenager is struggling with self-esteem issues and is exhibiting severe behavioral or mental health problems, perhaps it’s time for professional help. help. Trinity Teen Solutions offers the kind of therapeutic help your teenage girl needs, so don't wait and see how they can help. Call today at
(855) 631-4424.
