heirgoals, then they will have good self-esteem (Baumeister, 1984, p. 88).That is exactly what Karis has done. She is happy with her appearance,her grades, her volleyball achievements, and she really loves herparents. Maybe Davina just suffers from an "identity crisis," which mostadolescence tend to struggle with, but I believe that the real problemis that her parents aren't there for her. If Davina had the approvalof her parents in the beginning, I don't think she would be this way.I think that Davina feels that it's her fault that her parentsseparated, and when neither wanted her, she lost all her self worth. She justcouldn't make the grades in school anymore, although she really wantstoo. If a person falls short of their goals and is unsuccessful, then theywill have a low self-esteem (Baumeister, 1984, p. 88).I think that isalso part of the problem. Davina used to get good grades, in the backof her mind she knows she could do it again. Unfortunately she lostall confidence when her parents left her. Davina wanted approval fromher parents and was dependent on them to be there for her, like Karis'sparents are, but Davina's parents weren't able to meet up with her stan!dards, and so her standard of self-support wasn't available to herself(Beane, 1993, p. 104).All Davina needed was her parents to tell herthat she was doing good, that she wasn't fat, and that they loved her,but instead they walked right out of her life. Rosenberg found thatadolescents are mainly concerned with what their peers think of them,but those with low self-esteem tend to worry more about what others say,unlike those will high self esteem (Baumeister, 1984, p. 24). Just bylooking at my two friends, it is obvious that Rosenberg was correct inhis assumptions. Karis doesn't care that much about what others think, butDavina is always questioning and wondering what people will say abouther if she does this or that. The teenage years are said to be the hardest...
