EXPLODING THE SELF-ESTEEM MYTH.

This article focuses on the impact of self-esteem on psychological health. People intuitively recognize the importance of self-esteem to their psychological health, so it isn't particularly remarkable that most people try to protect and enhance it in themselves whenever possible. Low self-esteem lies at the root of individual and thus societal problems, and it has sustained an ambitious social agenda for decades. Indeed, campaigns to raise people's sense of self-worth abound. Consider what transpired in California in the late 1980s. Prodded by State Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, Governor George Deukmejian set up a task force on self-esteem and personal and social responsibility. INSETS: Good Feeling, Good Grades?;Initiating Relationships;Mixed Messages;Self-Esteem and Happiness