Young people usually grow through a sensitive stage which influences their future life. The adolescent stage is filled with plenty of challenges both physical and spiritual. This stage is characterized by numerous body changes in both boys and girls. To aggravate matters worse, factors such as school, friends, media and even parents play a major role in affecting how young people view themselves (Stuart, 2013). They get so much advice from every corner and sometimes, they become confused. Importantly, institutional and ideological factors are at the core of transforming self-perception among young people.
It is evident that young people have a big problem in the way they view themselves. Young children are usually vibrant during their early childhood days. They are more positive towards life and their goals. They normally have close relationship with their parents. However, as they slowly grow into puberty, everything changes fast. It’s like they hit a shift button in life and a new version emerges. However, there are deep-seated institutional and ideological issues such as school, family, media, culture and status at heart of this tremendous change. School is the normally the catalysts for changes among young people especially in the adolescent stage (Orbach, 2011).
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School is an institution where influence has a major impact on adolescents and the way they view themselves. Cayenne in Pipher’s book “Reviving Ophelia: saving the selves of adolescent girls” was criticized for her JCPenney jeans in her new school (1994). This was one of the elements that drastically changed the life of Cayenne from vibrant and disciplined to bored and rebellious. Her peers teased her and influenced her own perspective herself. Her life changed based on the decisions of her friends in school. A girl would be mocked and scorned for being disciplined and brainy in class. Interestingly, these are the same characteristics that were exhibited by Cayenne when she was 10. However, school played an important role in the drastic change that occurred in her life.
As young people, the media is a very important point of reference. It plays a big role in shaping our values and beliefs. This is because they brain is highly influenced and impressed by images. Orbach reveals that young people face immense pressure from TV, magazines, movies, music and advertisements (2011). These various forms of media have always had a serious impact on how young people see themselves. They strive to model the handsome men and women they see on television and movies. This also makes most of them to question their current physical appearance. Cayenne views herself as a dog because she compares herself with others (Pipher, 1994). The media acts as a reference point for most young people especially with respect to physical appearance
Family is yet a major institutional component which has an impact to adolescents. After school, most young people spend most of their time at home. Therefore, their parents influence is important to their growth. There is usually a conflict of values between the parent and the young individual. “As daughters move into the broader culture, they care what their friends, not parents, think” (Pipher, 1994). At the adolescence stage, young people always rebel against their parents’ values and norms. This is because they appear strict and not friendly. Parents try so hard to exert their influence on their children on matters such as diet, friends, dating, among many other things (Stuart, 2013). On the other hand, the children focus on what their friends and media tell them to do. For instance, Cayenne tried to change her hair color and even lose weight in a bid to understand her physical appearance.
Apart from institutional factors, ideology plays an important role in influencing how young people view themselves. Ideology is normally ingrained into the person’s way of life. Culture is a crucial ideological factor that tends to have an impact on young people. Pipher reveals that culture splits adolescents into two halves; true and false selves (1994). This is usually a conflicting stage on how adolescents view themselves. The true self is usually how they carried themselves as they grew up while the false self emerges from the influence of school, media and friends. Parents usually strive to ensure that their developing kids maintain their true self even during this sensitive growth stage. This leads to arguments on issues such as friends, alcohol, grades, early sex, among others. However, the societal culture influences young people to embrace the false self. Embracing the true self makes young people to be left out by their peers and might end up feeling lonely (Lerner, 1986). However, the false self makes one to be socially accepted and thus influences how one views themselves.
Summing up, institutional and ideological factors are responsible for the drastic change on how young people view themselves. These factors have a serious influence on these people because they are their immediate environment. Students spend a considerable amount of time at school where they are mostly influenced. Peer pressure is a notable force which changes how young people view themselves especially their physical appearance. Home is another institutional factor where parents play a major role in the shift of self perception. Most importantly, media is the ultimate force which influences the brains of the young people. It acts as a reference guide on how to view themselves. Culture is an ideological factor which is instigated by the society. Embracing the false self is more encouraged than the true self so that one can be socially accepted. Both institutional and ideological factors have their fair share of influence on young people.
References
Lerner, G. (1986). The creation of patriarchy . New York: Oxford University Press.
Orbach, S. (2011). Losing bodies . Social Research, 78(2), 387-394.
Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: saving the selves of adolescent girls . New York: Putnam.
Stuart, H. (2013). Stereotyping as a significant practice” in gender and women’s studies in Canada . Toronto; Women Press.
