My answer is YES. Below is my interview with an extremely well-adjusted and happy teen named Savannah.
Savannah is a 17-year-old senior in high school. She gets good grades and she’s very competitive with herself. She has joy written all over her face that’s not forced or an act. She thinks it’s important to have goals in life whether big or small. She says that she’s not a very social person, by that she means that she doesn’t really have one strong group of friends she hangs out with at school. She’s never had that one “best friend.” She spends time with many different groups of girls and boys at school depending upon the day, the class or the sport. She said that she feel accepted by her peers, not under pressure, teased or bullied. However, she sometimes wonders if there’s something wrong with her since she doesn’t want to go to the parties on the weekend or talk on the phone for hours. She identifies herself as a daydream. She loves to read 18th-century poetry and literature. She is also a sports lover and successfully plays on her school’s varsity volleyball team. She talked about how she sees many teens trying to please people, not wanting to upset or anger anyone. Always, pleasing teachers and parents and she guesses that many girls want to please boys as well. She doesn’t feel the desire or need to do these things. She thinks about boys, but doesn’t have a boyfriend and doesn’t define herself by a relationship. She seems comfortable and patient in waiting for the right relationship to come along at some point in her life. She defines high self-esteem as just being fully content with self. Meaning, not wishing she had other’s attributes or talents and genuinely being happy for them and their successes. She said that she thinks she’s pretty grounded because she “feels loved” by her parents. She says that her parents always remind her of the important things in life. She thinks a humble upbringing can be very potent, which she feels she has had. Her mom and dad both have blue-collar jobs, they laugh a lot and talk often as a family. She isn’t a fan of the media. She hates their portrayal of teens as being shallow; only caring about cosmetics, clothing and boys, when they do think about other things as well. She volunteers with her mom and has been doing this for about 10 years. It just became part of the landscape which she calls her life. She’s offended that the media never talks about these things in relation to teens. She doesn’t doubt herself, she has extreme curiosity about most things and never sweats the small stuff. She is attending an amazing college in the fall and is well ahead of her time. She can’t wait to travel the world. She wants to see London, Paris and Barcelona, hitting all the key museums and monuments along the way. Savannah is an extremely well-adjusted teen. You just can’t fake this kind of self-esteem.
Dr Carol 