Helping strangers can help teens gain more confidence

Teens who make the effort to help those outside their circle of family and friends gain confidence, a study found. — Filepic

New research shows that for teenagers, helping others could improve their self-esteem during the sometimes difficult period of adolescence.

Carried out by researchers at Brigham Young University, United States, and Xinyuan Fu, Central University of Finance and Economics, China, the longitudinal study looked at 681 adolescents age 11-14 years in two US cities over a four-year time period.