Hesitant language use and self-esteem in adolescent girls across ethnicity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v10i2.1519Keywords:
Self-esteem, Hesitant Language, High School, Adolescence, Ethnicity, CorrelationAbstract
Language is dynamic and changes across the course of adolescence. Researchers have found that usage of some words and phrases, such as “um…” and “I don’t know,” increase during the teenage years, especially when youth are confronted with topics that they may not feel comfortable discussing. Hesitant language is defined as words or styles of speech that communicate 1. a distancing of the declarative content of one's speech and 2. interpersonal sensitivity towards the listener. These phrases are typically used because one is nervous or unsure about what to say and they can signify a variety of issues and may or may not be linked to self-esteem. In this study, we analyzed eighth-grade girls’ usage of hesitant language and how the use of this type of language may or may not be correlated with their scores on the Rosenberg self-esteem test. We also ran an ANOVA to determine if there was a significant difference in correlation across ethnicity. Our current study is focused on eighth grade and we plan on expanding to include the 6th and 11th-grade data. There have been very few studies done on how hesitant language and self-esteem correlate and change through girls’ adolescence. We hope our study will help add to the important conversation around girls' self-esteem and what can be used as indicators of a change in that self-esteem over time.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Blair, H.A. (2000). Genderlects: girl talk and boy talk in a middle-years classroom. Language Arts, 77(4), 315-323.
Cribb, V.L. & Haase, A.M. (2016). Girls feeling good at school: School gender environment, internalization and awareness of socio-cultural attitudes associations with self-esteem in adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence. 46, 107-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.10.019
Downey, Maureen. (2012). Girls and middle school: drama and divas. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, A10.
Eckert, P. (1988). Adolescent social structure and the spread of linguistic change. Language in Society, 17(2), 183-207. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500012756
Gilligan, C., Rogers, A.G., & Noel, N. (2018). Cartography of lost time: mapping the crisis of connection. The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences, and Solutions. ed. Niobe Way. New York University Press, New York.
Moran, P. & Eckenrode, J. (1991). Gender differences in the costs and benefits of peer relationships during adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Research, 6(4), 369-409. https://doi.org/10.1177/074355489164002
Onetti, W., Fernandez-Garcia, J., Castillo-Rodriguez, A. (2019). Transition to middle school: self-concept changes. Plos One, 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212640
Orenstein, P. (1994). School girls: Young women, self esteem, and the confidence gap. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.
Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. New York: Ballantine Books.
Polce-Lynch, M., Myers, B.J., Kliewer, W., & Kilmartin, C. (2001). Adolescent self-esteem and gender: exploring relations to sexual harassment, body image, media influence, and emotional expression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30(2), 225-244. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010397809136
Richman, C., Clark, M.L., Brown, K.(1985). General and specific Self-esteem in late adolescent students: race x gender x SES effects. Adolescence, 20, (79).
Sheldon, A. (1992). Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic challenges to self-assertion and how young girls meet them. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38(1), 95-117.
Short, M.B., Mills, L.C., & Rosenthal, S.L. (2006). When adolescent girls say, “I don’t know.” Pediatrics, Adolescence, and Gynecology. 19, 267-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpag.2006.05.001
Strange, J.L., Neuenschwander, N.L., & Dauer, A.L. (2005). Self-esteem in females throughout childhood and adolescence. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 4.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2021 Lucy Sopher; Angelica Puzio
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
