Sir Edmund Hillary quoted that it is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. It makes one of the many different opinions people have on self-esteem, which is known to play a significant role in stress promotion and resolution. Mruk (2013) defines self-esteem based on two psychological processes; evaluation and affect. The evaluation has an emphasis on the role of cognition on self-esteem, while affect focuses on the role of feelings. Self-esteem involves the attitude that one holds towards a given object. Psychologically, it means the feeling-based responses a person holds towards themselves, which can either be acceptance versus rejection (Mruk, 2013).
Self-esteem involves feeling based responses, and so they play a role in promoting and maintaining stress, which in turn affects relationships, values, beliefs, and attitudes. Values are principles or standards an individual or society holds in high regard and guides their lives and judgment. Beliefs are convictions that things one holds in mind are right, result from real experiences, and a reflection of who one is. On the other hand, attitudes refer to feelings, beliefs, and behaviors which humans direct towards specific subjects. Therefore, personal values, beliefs, and attitudes impact one's own life and their work and are affected by self-esteem. Low self-esteemed individuals often experience insecurities, which often make them withdrawn, thus affecting their relationships.
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Self-esteem plays a role in determining attitudes towards events as a result of the effects it has on stress. According to Rector and Roger (1997), a study carried out indicated that individuals with high esteem experience less stress and often have the confidence which makes them perform. Self-esteem affects how people react to and cope up with stress since those who experience low self-esteem are known to have depression and stress. Additionally, low self-esteemed individuals are often vulnerable to negative situations hence may have depressive attributions in response to stress, which increases feelings of anxiety. Consequently, humans tend to have negative attitudes and beliefs towards stressful events, which they find difficult to cope up with, to the extent that it might affect some of their values.
Change in behavior is continuous and occurs through a cyclical process. Smokers, for example, can intentionally quit the practice by moving through six stages (Prochaska, Redding, & Evers, 2015). The steps include pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. The first stage, the precontemplation stage, is one during which a smoker does not intend to quit soon and majorly focuses on the negative effects leaving will have on them. Furthermore, they fail to acknowledge the harmful effects of smoking. The contemplation stage follows, and a smoker will have the intention of quitting in the foreseeable future after accepting the detrimental effects of smoking and weighing the pros and cons of quitting, which takes them to the third stage, the preparation stage.
In the preparation stage, an individual becomes prepared to quit smoking within thirty days. They acknowledge that their life would be better and healthier without smoking (Behavioral Change Models). Consequently, they begin to take small initiatives towards quitting. In the action stage, a person has just quit smoking and intends to maintain the state, which they can facilitate by acquiring healthier behaviors such as eating lots of fruits. The maintenance stage then follows in which a person has sustained life without smoking for a while, for instance, more than six months and intends to remain a non-smoker while they do all they can to prevent relapse into the previous stages. The final step involves termination in which the person has no desire to go back to smoking and are confident they would not relapse
References
Behavioral Change Models. The Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change). Retrieved from: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories6.html
Mruk, C. J. (2013). Self-esteem and positive psychology: Research, theory, and practice. Springer Publishing Company.
Prochaska, J. O., Redding, C. A., & Evers, K. E. (2015). The transtheoretical model and stages of change. Health behavior: Theory, research, and practice, 125-148.
Rector, N. A., & Roger, D. (1997). The stress-buffering effects of self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 23(5), 799-808.
