st be explored (Abell and Richards, 1996).Keefe and Berndt (1996) direct future research to explore the relations of friendship quality and stability to self-perceptions of physical appearance in adolescence. They find this to be important because their finding indicated that the failure to maintain satisfying friendships may undermine adolescents competence in physical appearance (Keefe & Berndt, 1996, p.125). This presents an important objective considering the research by Verkuyten (1990) that found body image as the most important component concerning perceived self-esteem.Wood et al. (1996) believes a replication of their study with a larger sample size and wider age range would be beneficial. They feel it is important to explore the possibility of developmental patterns in correlations of body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and depression (Wood et al., 1996). Wood et al. (1996) also consider the importance of directing research toward identifying specific factors that influence the development of body image dissatisfaction at an early age in childhood.Williams and Currie (2000) believe that there needs to be further studies concerning the relationships of pubertal timing and self-esteem. They also find that it would be useful to investigate mediating mechanisms through which aspects of physical development influence changes in self-esteem at different ages in early adolescence and across different cultures (Williams & Currie, 2000).Adolescent self-esteem is multidimensional and has many contributing factors. This paper has reviewed many of these components and discussed the direction of future research to further the understanding of this complicated subject. Although, as discussed in the beginning of this paper, the approach of person-centered research should be explored (Block & Robins, 1993)....
