THE SELF-ESTEEM OF WOMEN - A COGNITIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Social workers address self-esteem concerns of female clients without benefit of adequate theory-theory which is phenomenologically derived, prescriptive in nature, and readily transferable to clinical settings. This article reports findings from a cognitive-phenomenological study in which 16 women provided detailed accounts of their self-esteem experiences during major life transitions. In-depth interviewing and cognitive mapping procedures yielded a view of underlying cognitive self-schemata against which respondents evaluated current perceptions of self. Discrepancies between ideal self-concept and self-perceptions produced cognitive dissonance, a major component of self esteem difficulties and a potential target of clinical intervention.