33). The pervasive influence of the media necessitates an involvement by parents and teachers to heighten and develop understanding and self-worth in high school students: "Those involved in the life of a child [must] play a direct role in helping to encourage positive reinforcement and growth--good self-esteem." (Friedmann and Brooks, 1990, p. X.)
The important adults in an adolescent's life can counteract societal messages that lower self-esteem. For instance, sociologists have determined no link between self-esteem and racial status. Thus even though society might have a negative opinion of a certain race or culture, the adolescents growing up in that group accept society's negative images only if the important adults in their lives do so (Fuhrmann, 1990, p. 339). Further, minority students who maintain a high degree of ethnic identity tend to have higher self-esteem than those who become alienated from their cultures. Sociologists have, however, found that socioeconomic status is an important determining factor in self-esteem--lower-income adolescents uniformly display lowered self-esteem when compared to their upper-income counterparts (Fuhrmann, 1990, p. 340).
Differences in self-esteem based on sex are well-documented in the literature: "While girls are often spirited and determined to survive the unique pressures of female adolescence, many emerge as adults with damaged self-confidence and low expectations" (Golden, 1994, p. 53). Girls tend to value themselves based on their looks. Society perpetuates this attitude by stressing the utility of female attractiveness, in both the print and broadcast media. Gifted girls are often reluctant to exploit their talents because such exploitation is at variance with society's expectations for women. During adolescence, a teenager's body undergoes unpredictable changes, again creating greater consternation for girls than for boys: "At a time when they are internalizing m...