Social appraisal as correlate, antecedent, and consequence of mental and physical health outcomes

Social appraisal is associated with mental and physical health. The present study documented this association among undergraduates, and clarified the temporal relationships of social appraisal to mental/physical health measures. One hundred and forty three students completed indices of depression, self-esteem, anger, physical aggression, illness, and cigarette and alcohol use, twice, at sessions three weeks apart. A subset of these participants provided anthropometric indices, allowing computation of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). All students were rated by their roommates as to the esteem in which roommates held them (a measure of social appraisal). Results indicated that social appraisal was associated with most measures of mental and physical health functioning, such that students with low appraisals reported more depression, anger, physical aggression, physical illness, cigarette and alcohol use, and lower self-esteem. Longitudinal analyses indicated that social appraisal was more an antecedent than a consequence of mental and physical health functioning.