Arden University launches UK’s first confidence index
Arden University has launched the UK’s first confidence index, which uncovers the areas of the UK that are the most confident, how many of us have an inner critic, and examines what impacts on our confidence the most.
The research found that only one in ten adults feels highly self-confident, while 70% are battling against an ‘inner critic’ that’s damaging their self-esteem. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of UK adults lack confidence, meanwhile, with a third (32%) stating this affects their mental wellbeing.
According to the insight, most of us see our self-confidence sent on a downward trajectory as we reach school-leaving age, with 73% of UK adults developing an inner critic before 17-years-old. That milestone falls just before children think they’ll reach their peak confidence, at 18-years-old.
Dr Sophie Ward, a head of department in the School of Psychology at Arden University, commented: “To halt the UK’s confidence crisis, we need to ask: where does it all go wrong? It seems that our inner critic tends to arise just as we expect to reach our most confident, faltering our self-esteem along the way.
The research also found that children are much more likely to handle difficult situations with more confidence than their adult counterparts. For example, a quarter (26%) of adults tend to put off new and difficult tasks, whereas only 11% of children felt the same, with nearly a third (31%) instead feeling excited and ready to try.
Our appearance, income and education bring us down
When asking people what negatively impacts their confidence, the top three reasons were: feeling put down by others, not being as successful in their career as they’d like and having a difficult childhood.
“Of course, our confidence is not always impacted by our internal thoughts – sometimes external factors can affect us,” explains Sophie.
“We all have goals in life we want to achieve, and if we don’t have a kind voice in our head, we inadvertently put ourselves down. It’s important to always celebrate our small wins and encourage the younger generation to do so, too.”
The top five things people would improve to boost their confidence were: their appearance, their perception of themselves, their income, their qualifications and education and what others thought about them.
“Nearly a quarter of us (24%) compare ourselves to others every day. While this is natural, especially from a self-improvement point of view, it can become detrimental and make our inner critic louder in our head,” explains Sophie.
How to boost your confidence
Here are Sophie’s top tips for boosting your self-confidence:
- Practice positive self-talk: Replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations and encourage yourself with uplifting and empowering statements. This will help shift your mindset and increase your self-belief.
- Focus on your strengths: Identify and celebrate your strengths and remind yourself of what you do well. You can always use your strengths to boost your confidence in challenging situations.
- Step out of your comfort zone: Push yourself to try new things and take on challenges, even if they feel intimidating. Each success outside your comfort zone will build your confidence.
- Adopt a growth mindset: see challenges as opportunities to learn, not as roadblocks. If you train yourself to believe that with effort and persistence, you can continuously evolve and improve, you’ll feel more confident when trying new things.
To view the UK Confidence Index, compiled by Arden University, click here.
