Perfectionism Cognitions, Rumination, and Psychological Distress

The current study examined the extent to which dimensions of perfectionism are associated with a ruminative response orientation and the experience of cognitive intrusions in response to stressful events. Our main goal was to test the hypothesis that individuals characterized by frequent automatic thoughts involving perfectionistic themes would also be characterized by a ruminative response orientation when distressed and they would report intrusive thoughts and images following the experience of a stressful event. A sample of 65 students completed several measures, including the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Response Styles Questionnaire, the Impact of Events Scale, and indices of depression and anxiety. Correlational analyses confirmed that high scores on the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory were correlated with a ruminative response orientation and the reported experience of intrusive thoughts and images following the experience of a stressful event. High levels of perfectionism cognitions, socially prescribed perfectionism, and rumination were also correlated with measures of depression and anxiety representingthe tripartite model. The results support the view that there is a salient cognitive aspect to perfectionism and the experience of frequent perfectionistic cognitions and related forms of rumination contribute to levels of psychological distress.     

Affect Intensity Contributes to Perfectionistic Self-presentation in Adolescents Beyond Perfectionism

Perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescents is associated with psychological maladjustment and distress. Yet, no study so far has investigated what personality characteristics contribute to perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescence. Using a cross-sectional correlational design with 119 adolescents aged 11–16 years, this study investigated how perfectionism (self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) and affect intensity (positive affectivity, negative intensity, and negative reactivity) predicted individual differences in three modes of perfectionistic self-presentation: perfectionistic self-promotion, nondisplay of imperfection, and nondisclosure of imperfection. Results showed a unique prediction pattern for all three modes of perfectionistic self-presentation. Moreover, affect intensity contributed to perfectionistic self-presentation beyond perfectionism in two of the three modes. Perfectionistic self-promotion was predicted by high self-oriented perfectionism, high socially prescribed perfectionism, high positive affectivity, and low negative reactivity. In contrast, nondisplay of imperfection was predicted by high self-oriented perfectionism, high negative reactivity, and low positive affectivity. Nondisclosure of perfectionism was predicted by high socially prescribed perfectionism only. The findings suggest that affect intensity is a personality characteristic contributing to perfectionistic self-presentation in adolescence beyond perfectionism.     

Mindfulness and Emotional Distress: the Mediating Role of Psychological well-Being

The present cross-sectional study aimed to clarify the relationships among specific facets of dispositional mindfulness, psychological well-being, and emotional distress. To understand the relationships among these variables is crucial in order to expand the knowledge of the processes underlying mindfulness effects and to develop effective interventions. The participants (119 Italian males and females; mean age = 29 years) completed self-report questionnaires assessing mindfulness (i.e., observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, non-reactivity to inner experience), emotional distress, and psychological well-being. Path analysis revealed that each facet of mindfulness played a unique role in influencing emotional suffering. In line with our prediction, no significant correlation emerged between the observing facet and either psychological well-being or emotional distress. Both the capacity to describe inner events and to act with awareness had an indirect effect on emotional distress, which was fully mediated by the perception of psychological well-being. On the other hand, the capacity for non-reacting to emotions and thoughts directly influenced emotional distress. Interestingly, non-judging inner events showed both a direct and indirect effect on the outcome variable. These findings confirmed the significant role of psychological well-being in mediating the relationship between some facets of mindfulness and emotional distress. Moreover, different mindfulness abilities play specific roles in reducing emotional distress, so mindfulness should be considered as a multidimensional construct.     

Perfectionism, and Cognitions, Affect, Self-esteem, and Physiological Reactions in a Performance Situation

The current paper describes the results of an experiment in which 200 students who varied in levels of trait perfectionism performed a laboratory task and then were assessed in terms of levels of state affect, state self-esteem, and state automatic thoughts. Independent variables included task difficulty (high versus moderate level of difficulty) and performance feedback independent of their actual level of performance (positive or negative). Analyses also examined objective levels of performance (i.e., the number of errors on the task) and initial confidence in performance. Analyses showed that the experience of state automatic thoughts involving perfectionism was associated with negative automatic thoughts, negative affective reactions, and lower state self-esteem. Analyses of changes in mood and self-esteem showed generally that participants high in socially prescribed perfectionism had increased levels of dysphoria and anxiety and lower levels of state self-esteem following the experience of negative performance feedback or after having a relatively poor performance. Analyses of the physiological measures found increased systolic blood pressure among self-oriented perfectionists who had poorer performance and among socially prescribed perfectionists who had received negative feedback about their performance. The results for heart-rate changes yielded a less clear pattern, though there was evidence that participants with high socially prescribed perfectionism had increased heart rate if they received negative feedback and were relatively low in confidence. Collectively, these findings illustrate that how perfectionists react in challenging situations varies as a function of actual performance, performance feedback, and feelings of personal efficacy.

Dimensions of Perfectionism, Unconditional Self-Acceptance, and Depression

The current research investigated the associations among dimensions of perfectionism, unconditional self-acceptance, and self-reported depression. A sample of 94 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire, and a self-report depression measure. Correlational results indicated that all three trait dimensions of perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism) were associated negatively with unconditional self-acceptance. Also, as expected, depression was associated with relatively low unconditional self-acceptance. Finally, a path analysis revealed that unconditional self-acceptance mediated the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and depression, and other-oriented perfectionism was found to affect depression only indirectly through its association with low levels of self-acceptance. The findings indicate that perfectionists evaluate themselves in terms of a contingent sense of self-worth, and as such, they are vulnerable to psychological distress when they experience negative events that do not affirm their self-worth.     

Perfectionistic Self‐Presentation and Trait Perfectionism in Social Problem‐Solving Ability and Depressive Symptoms

This study examined social problem solving and perfectionistic self‐presentation, and assessed whether social problem solving mediates the association between perfectionism and depression. A sample of 200 community members completed measures of perfectionistic self‐presentation, trait perfectionism, social problem‐solving ability, and depression. Correlational analyses confirmed that perfectionistic self‐presentation and socially prescribed perfectionism are both associated with a negative problem‐solving orientation. Tests of mediating effects revealed that negative problem‐solving ability mediates the associations of socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic self‐presentation with depressive symptoms, particularly among women. The findings support further exploration of mediational models linking perfectionism, problem‐solving ability, and depression and suggest that people who display high perfectionistic self‐presentation are particularly vulnerable to stress and distress and should benefit from problem‐solving training.     

Rumination, reflection, intrusive thoughts, and hallucination-proneness: Towards a new model

Although rumination has been proposed to play an important role in the creation of hallucinations, direct empirical tests of this proposal have not yet been performed. Employing a distinction between ruminative and reflective self-consciousness, we set out to test a new model of the relations among rumination, reflection, intrusive thoughts, thought suppression, social anxiety, and hallucination-proneness. This model proposed that rumination would be related to hallucination-proneness through the mediating variable of intrusive thoughts, but that reflection would not be related to hallucination-proneness. The model was tested in a student population (N = 296) using path analyses. A modified version of the model was found to be a good fit to the data, once a direct path from reflection to hallucination-proneness had been added. As hypothesized, rumination was related to hallucination-proneness only indirectly, through the mediating variable of intrusive thoughts. Implications for interventions and future directions for research are considered.     

Perfectionism, Cognition, and Affect in Response to Performance Failure vs. Success

The current paper describes the results of an experiment in which 200 students who varied in levels of trait perfectionism performed a laboratory task of varying levels of difficulty. Participants received either negative or positive performance feedback, independent of their actual level of performance. Analyses of pre-task and post-task measures of negative and positive affect showed that individuals with high self-oriented perfectionism experienced a general increase in negative affect after performing the task, and self-oriented perfectionists who received negative performance feedback were especially likely to report decreases in positive affect. Additional analyses showed that self-oriented perfectionists who received negative feedback responded with a cognitive orientation characterized by performance dissatisfaction, cognitive rumination, and irrational task importance. In contrast, there were relatively few significant differences involving other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Collectively, our findings support the view that self-oriented perfectionism is a vulnerability factor involving negative cognitive and affective reactions following failure experiences that reflect poorly on the self.     

On the development of perfectionism in adolescence: Perceived parental expectations predict longitudinal increases in socially prescribed perfectionism

Adolescence is regarded a key period when individual differences in perfectionism develop. Yet, so far only a few longitudinal studies have investigated the development of perfectionism in adolescents. Using a longitudinal correlational design with 381 adolescents aged 15–19 years, the present study investigated whether perceived parental expectations and criticism predicted longitudinal increases in self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism over 7–9 months. Results showed that perceived parental expectations predicted longitudinal increases in socially prescribed perfectionism: Adolescents who perceived that their parents had high expectations of them at Time 1, showed increased socially prescribed perfectionism from Time 1 to Time 2 compared to adolescents who did not perceive their parents having such high expectations. No such effect was found for self-oriented perfectionism. The findings provide supportive evidence for the social expectations model of the development of perfectionism regarding socially prescribed perfectionism, but not self-oriented perfectionism. Implications of this finding for the understanding of the development of perfectionism and future studies are discussed.     

Intrusive thoughts mediate the association between neuroticism and cognitive function

Although research has established a negative association between trait neuroticism and cognition, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. We examined the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts and negative affect as potential mediators of the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance. We hypothesized that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts reflects ineffective attentional control and would account for the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance over and above the mediating effect of negative affect. Three hundred seventeen adults (M_age = 49.43) completed a series of attention-demanding cognitive tasks as well as self-report measures of intrusive thoughts, negative affect, and neuroticism. Intrusive thoughts mediated the association between trait neuroticism and cognitive performance beyond negative affect. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts is a mechanism through which trait neuroticism influences cognitive performance.     

The Role of Socially Prescribed Perfectionism in the Link Between Perceived Racial Discrimination and African American Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms

Research examining the social origins of perfectionism has focused on negative evaluative experiences in the family, with less attention to negative social evaluations in other contexts and situations relevant for African American adolescents. The experience of racial discrimination is common for African American youth, and may trigger maladaptive perfectionistic beliefs if the youth perceive that they do not meet others’ standards (socially prescribed perfectionism) or internalize discriminatory messages. Thus, the present study examined longitudinal associations among racial discrimination, socially prescribed perfectionism, and depressive symptoms among a community sample of urban and predominantly low income African American adolescents (n?=?492; 46.7 % female). In each of grades 7, 8 and 9, participants reported their experiences with racial discrimination, perfectionistic beliefs, and depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that experiences with racial discrimination in grade 7 were associated with socially prescribed perfectionism in grade 8 which, in turn, was linked with depressive symptoms in grade 9. Results suggest that prospective associations between the experience of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms are due, in part, to increased socially prescribed perfectionism. Implications for interventions targeting depression in African American are discussed.     

Perfectionism and psychological distress: evidence of the mediating effects of rumination

Three studies investigated the role of ruminative tendencies in mediating the effects of multidimensional perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) on psychological distress. Study 1 (Sample 1, N = 279; Sample 2, N = 224) and Study 2 (N = 205) found evidence, cross‐sectionally and prospectively, that brooding ruminative response style either fully or partially mediated the effects of socially prescribed and self‐oriented perfectionism on psychological distress, depression and hopelessness levels. In addition, Study 3 (N = 163) confirmed these mediation effects for socially prescribed perfectionism in relation to depression and hopelessness, 2 months later, after initial levels of distress were controlled. Overall, these findings provide evidence that brooding ruminative response style is an important mechanism that can explain, in part, the relationship between perfectionism and distress. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does mindfulness attenuate thoughts emphasizing negativity,but not positivity?

The current research investigated whether mindfulness is differentially associated with thoughts that emphasize positive or negative valence. In Study 1, trait mindfulness was inversely associated with negative rumination but unassociated with positive rumination, controlling for state affect. In Study 2, participants completed either a mindful breathing meditation or a comparable control exercise, followed by a thought listing while viewing affective images. Compared to the control condition, the mindfulness condition listed proportionately fewer negative thoughts, particularly in response to negative images, and more non-valenced thoughts. The conditions did not differ in their proportions of positive thoughts. These results suggest that mindfulness may attenuate thoughts that emphasize negativity but not those that emphasize positivity.     

Perfectionism, anger, and anger rumination

Anger and anger rumination are considered to be detrimental to both physical and psychological well being. Furthermore, perfectionism, as a personality construct, seems to be related to various types of maladjustment. Whereas perfectionism has been characterized as being positive when an individual derives pleasure from striving for excellence yet recognizes and accepts individual limitations, it is deemed negative when the individual has unrealistic expectations and is never satisfied with his or her performance. The present study examined whether positive and negative perfectionism was associated with anger and anger rumination. The Farsi version of the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale and the Farsi version of the Anger Rumination Scale, as well as Spielberger's State-Trait Anger Scale were completed by 384 Iranian students. Results showed that anger and anger rumination were, as expected, associated negatively with positive perfectionism and associated positively with negative perfectionism. Positive perfectionism enables individuals to strive for success in a flexible manner and, thus, to experience satisfaction and pleasure rather than dissatisfaction, frustration, and anger. Conversely, negative perfectionism makes individuals vulnerable to emotional distress such as predisposition to experience anger and anger rumination through setting high standards for performance, overgeneralization of perceived failures, negative self-evaluation, self-blame, and measuring self-worth in terms of unachievable goals of accomplishment and productivity. Hence, perfectionism may be regarded as having both adaptive and maladaptive aspects with regard to health.     

Multidimensional Perfectionism and Ruminative Brooding in Current Dysphoria,Anxiety, Worry,and Anger

The current study examined links between dimensions of perfectionism, ruminative and distractive coping, and multiple measures of current distress (dysphoria, anxiety, worry, and anger) in 205 university students. A main goal was to test the hypothesis that perfectionism is related to a new measure of the critical maladaptive component of rumination (i.e., ruminative brooding) that is not confounded with symptoms and confirm that both constructs function as non-specific vulnerabilities for emotional distress. Our study revealed numerous significant findings, including: (1) socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) was the dimension most strongly related to brooding in response to depression and anxiety; (2) SPP, self-oriented perfectionism (SOP), and brooding predicted various indices of distress; (3) SOP predicted anxiety and worry in women, and it predicted dysphoria and anger in men; (4) despite the strong associations between ruminative brooding and distress, perfectionism still accounted for unique variance in distress, and vice-versa. Implications for the issue of the adaptiveness versus maladaptiveness of perfectionism and for counseling perfectionists who fall into the “brooding trap” are discussed.

Perfectionism and Deficits in Cognitive Emotion Regulation

The current study investigated the general hypothesis that perfectionists have deficits in cognitive emotion regulation. A sample of 100 students completed the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and a measure of depression. Correlational analyses revealed that frequent thoughts involving perfectionism were associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation tendencies, including catastrophization, self-blame, rumination, and lack of positive reappraisal. Socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with the maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies of self-blame, catastrophization, and rumination, and it was correlated negatively with the adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies of putting into perspective and positive reappraisal. Trait self-oriented perfectionism was linked with self-blame. As expected, higher levels of depression were associated with perfectionism cognitions, socially prescribed perfectionism and deficits in cognitive emotion regulation. Our findings suggest the need for interventions designed to bolster the cognitive coping skills of at-risk perfectionists. This research was supported by a major research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. Gordon Flett was also supported by a Canada Research Chair in Personality and Health.     

A methodological note on the interactive and main effects of dualistic personality dimensions: An example using the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism

The goal of this methodological note was to outline the importance of considering the interactive and main effects of dualistic personality dimensions by presenting an example grounded in the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010). A study was conducted with a sample of 98 university students to examine the associations between four subtypes of perfectionism and academic performance. Results of moderated regression analyses revealed a non-significant interaction between self-oriented (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP). Nonetheless, the four hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism were supported in the context of a compensatory model showing a significant and positive main effect of SOP along with a negative and significant main effect of SPP. This methodological note contributes to the literature by offering clear guidelines on how the two main effects of SOP and SPP (and their resulting predicted values) can be used to test the four hypotheses of the 2 × 2 model despite the absence of a significant interaction between SOP and SPP.     

Perfectionism,personality, and affective experiences: New insights from revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

Previous studies have linked perfectionism to differences in reinforcement sensitivity, but findings have been mixed. The present study explored the relationships between three forms of perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, socially prescribed) and components of the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality in relation to the experience of positive and negative affect. In a sample of 388 university students, we found consistent evidence of significant bivariate and semipartial correlations controlling for the overlap between the three forms of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism showed positive relationships with the Behavioral Approach System (BAS), the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), and the Fight–Flight–Freeze System (FFFS); other-oriented perfectionism showed a negative relationship with the BIS (and was unrelated to the FFFS); and socially prescribed perfectionism showed positive relationships with the BIS and BAS impulsiveness, and a negative relationship with BAS goal-drive persistence (and was unrelated to the FFFS). Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that the reinforcement sensitivity components (BIS and BAS, but not FFFS) explained differences in how the three forms of perfectionism predicted recent positive and negative affect. These findings open up new empirical avenues in suggesting that fundamental emotion–motivational systems play a key role in the relationship of perfectionism and affective experiences.     

Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts,Trait Perfectionism,and Bulimic Automatic Thoughts in Young Women

The current research examined the associations among perfectionistic automatic thoughts, trait perfectionism, negative automatic thoughts, and bulimic automatic thoughts. A non-clinical sample of 94 undergraduate women completed the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Bulimic Automatic Thoughts Test. Correlational tests revealed that two automatic thoughts measures (perfectionistic automatic thoughts and negative automatic thoughts) and two trait perfectionism measures (self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) were associated significantly with bulimic automatic thoughts with the strongest association being between perfectionistic automatic thoughts and bulimic automatic thoughts. Regression analyses showed that perfectionistic thoughts predicted unique variance in bulimic thoughts beyond variance attributable to trait perfectionism and negative automatic thoughts. The findings are discussed in terms of the need to incorporate an explicit focus on perfectionistic automatic thoughts into treatment interventions and conceptual models of perfectionism and eating disorders.     

Perfectionism,social problem-solving ability,and psychological distress

The present research examined the relation between dimensions of perfectionism and self-appraised problem-solving behaviors and attitudes. Specifically, in two separate studies, we tested the hypothesis that socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., the perception that others demand perfection from the self) is associated with poorer social problem-solving ability. In addition, measures of psychological adjustment were included in Study 2 so that we could (1) examine whether socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer problem-solving ability were still associated after removing variance associated with psychological distress; and (2) compare depression and anxiety in terms of their respective associations with social problem-solving ability. Correlational analyses of the data from both studies confirmed that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with more negative self-perceptions of problem-solving orientation, and that the link between socially prescribed perfectionism and negative perceptions of problem-solving orientation remains present after removing variance due to levels of negative affectivity. Both depression and anxiety were associated with a negative problem-solving orientation, but only depression was associated with more negative appraisals of actual problem-solving skills. The results suggest that perceived exposure to imposed standards of perfection undermines the problem-solving process and that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism are particularly in need of counseling interventions designed to provide a more positive problem-solving orientation.This research was supported by grants #410-91-0856 and #410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Providence, Rhode Island. The authors wish to thank Shawn Mosher for his assistance with the data collection.