Research Paper on:
Adolescent Self-Esteem

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
appeal to adolescent females who are still searching for clues to how to find an adult identity. For example, a 1997 article in Cosmopolitan by Marion Winik entitled " Is  it wrong to be a chameleon girlfriend?" deals with the pattern of relating to men that Winik developed while in college, so it would undoubtedly appeal to high school adolescents  who are still anticipating what that world might be like. These magazines, which are geared towards commercial sales, address the problems that face young females; however, they often do  so in ways that verify societal expectations and/or the methods of coping that young females have devised for dealing with societys diverse expectations. Articles such as Winiks outline strategies for  dealing with relationships that are not necessarily based on sound advice for promoting female self-esteem and may actually damage this already fragile area. Winik describes her own personal experience in  relating to men, and goes well back into her own adolescence to provide what she considers to be proof that adapting to the habits and interests of whomever is ones  love interest at the time is not necessarily harmful. In so doing, she chronicles how young women frequently make themselves over to fit the notions of the men they are  dating. However, even Winik appears to realize that this can be damaging to the self-esteem of the women involved. She writes that "you have to have a fairly strong  sense of self to change colors and flavors without losing your grip. Chameleon behavior can hurt you most when its motivated by a desperate desire to please...If you alter your  appearance and lifestyle for a man and he dumps you anyway, what do you have left?" (1997, p. 70). Nevertheless, Winik cannot, at this point in her life, comprehend not