The cost of lower self-esteem: Testing a self- and social-bonds model of health.
Abstract
The authors draw upon social, personality, and health psychology to propose and test a self-and-social-bonds model of health. The model contends that lower self-esteem predicts health problems and that poor-quality social bonds explain this association. In Study 1, lower self-esteem prospectively predicted reports of health problems 2 months later, and this association was explained by subjective reports of poor social bonds. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 but used a longitudinal design with 6 waves of data collection, assessed self-reports of concrete health-related behaviors (i.e., number of visits to the doctor and classes missed due to illness), and measured both subjective and objective indicators of quality of social bonds (i.e., interpersonal stress and number of friends). In addition, Study 2 showed that poor-quality social bonds predicted acute drops in self-esteem over time, which in turn predicted acute decreases in quality of social bonds and, consequently, acute increases in health problems. In both studies, alternative explanations to the model were tested.
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Empirical tests of sociometer theory have treated state and trait self-esteem interchangeably.
“In addition, empirical tests of sociometer theory have treated state and trait self-esteem interchangeably (Denissen, Penke, Schmitt, & van Aken, 2008; Gebauer, M. R. Leary, & Neberich, 2012;Stinson et al., 2008).”
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- Authors
- Stinson, D. A., Logel, C., Zanna, M. P., Holmes, J. G., Cameron, J. J., Wood, J. V., & Spencer, S. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 412-428
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2089889047
- Cited by
- 177
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 11.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ontario Graduate Scholarships
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Keywords
- self-esteem, social bonds, health problems, health behavior, interpersonal stress, number of friends, subjective well-being, self-esteem decline
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Ego, Female, Health Status, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Models, Psychological, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Stress, Psychological, Students
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