In a time where adolescent females are under internal and external scrutiny, this writer created and implemented a school-based program for middle school age girls. The program was designed to address and enhance the self-esteem among adolescent females. The curriculum focused on building self-esteem through establishing an acceptable body image, developing a positive self-concept, and forming healthy peer relationships. A review of the literature regarding the definition and societal impact on self-esteem among adolescent females was studied and incorporated into the characteristics of this program. An evaluation of this 10-week, 12 member psycho educational group was performed using the testing instrument known as the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The assessment tool was given as a pretest and posttest to evaluate the overall level of self-concept, as well as specific domains such as physical appearance, intellectual status, happiness and satisfaction, behavioral adjustment, anxiety, and popularity. The results of this assessment indicated that the ten week psycho educational group had a positive influence on student's self-esteem.

Purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was to determine if teacher feedback to sung tonal patterns affected the music self-concept of sixth and seventh grade students. General self-esteem was also tested for correlation with music self-concept. Procedures. One hundred students in sixth and seventh grades from three middle schools in Columbia, Missouri participated in this study. Each student completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Self-Concept in Music scale in a large group setting. These two scores for each student were used to place students in one of four subgroups: high general self-esteem/high music self-concept, high general self-esteem/low music self-concept, low general self-esteem/high music self-concept, and low general self-esteem/low music self-concept. The students were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (no feedback, appropriate feedback, positive feedback). The students, in a private session, attempted to echo-sing seven tonal patterns. The researcher responded to each attempt according to the assigned treatment and recorded the singing performance scores. Each student then completed the Self-Concept in Music scale once again. Results. No significant main effects or interactions were found. A low positive significant correlation (r =.37) was found between the scores for sung tonal memory and the posttest scores for music self-concept. A low positive significant correlation (r =.28) was also found between the scores for the music self-concept pretest and the scores for general self-esteem. Conclusions. Results of this study validate that students are able to determine their own perception of ability in music, that this perception is stable after a short-term intervention, and that this perception significantly relates to their general self-esteem.