Impact of Self-Esteem on Stress in Working and Non-Working Married Women (30-37 Years)

Abstract

Every person goes through periods of low self-esteem at some stage in life, it’s unavoidable. Replacing this negative conditioning with more positive programming is critical to building a successful and harmonious life. Stress is perhaps the most common issue of man’s everyday life. Stress is so universal and widespread that it is considered as a hallmark of human life. Married women especially with responsibilities of job, children and ageing parents can particularly feel overwhelmed by stress of daily life and that might accentuate if women have lower esteem. Low self-esteem can lead to psychological effects that cause a person to be more susceptible to stressful situations. Conversely, high self-esteem can act as a sort of protection against high levels of stress. Individuals with low esteem tend to feel helpless, powerless, and incapable of overcoming the obstacles placed in front of them. People today suffer from stress in a range of situations. Stress is present in people’s lives and is believed to be the cause of psychopathologies, diseases, and inability to adapt to any given environment or work. Stress is considered a complex defensive-balancing mechanism of the body that develops in two stages: during the first stage, individuals assess the stressor and the demands stemming from it, and during the second stage, they evaluate whether or not they have enough resources to meet the stressor demands. The latter stage draws attention to the individual’s subjective assessment of the stressor, which conditions their reaction to it. Different people may react differently to the same stressor. The stress response refers to body reactions, which can either be physiological, emotional, or behavioral reactions to stimuli that cause stress. Keywords Stress, Self­esteem, Working Women, Non­working women