Self-esteem, relationships and physical health
Series: PsychRadio
From: Christopher Moyer
Length: 00:02:59
Examines the ways that self-esteem and our social relationships may interact to affect our physical health.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Examines the ways that self-esteem and our social relationships may interact to affect our physical health.
Transcript
It's commonly believed that self-esteem, the evaluation of one's own worth as a human
being, is very important. But how important is it, really?
As with so many things, it depends. On the one hand, higher levels of self-esteem are
associated with happiness and life satisfaction, and who doesn't want those things? On
the other hand, the self-help industry's obsession with self-esteem - a search of online
book retailer amazon.com reveals over 110,000 books on the subject - definitely
overstates its value. Research finds no consistent relationships between self-esteem and
important life outcomes such as academic success, occupational success, popularity,
being married, or having children. Nor is it associated with avoiding negative behaviors
such as smoking, drinking, or using drugs.
How about a more specific question: Does self-esteem affect physical health? Recently,
a Canadian research t...
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