Self-Esteem in Adolescents Treated in an Outpatient Mental Health Setting

Although self-esteem is an important concept, nursing has only begun to focus on the significance of self-esteem as a mechanism for achieving wellness among adolescents, and as a variable for targeted intervention. Nursing studies identifying self-esteem as the primary focus of their research in an adolescent population seeking treatment in mental health settings are scarce. The Roy Adaptation Model's Theory of a Person as an Adaptive System was used to guide this descriptive, correlational study. Research examined the self-report of self-esteem on age, gender, smoking, exercise, depression, anger, and parental alcohol use in a sample of adolescents ages 12-19 years who were being treated in an outpatient mental health setting.