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Is self-critical perfectionism an antecedent of or a consequence of social anxiety, or both? A 12-month, three-wave longitudinal study

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Abstract

Cross-sectional research suggests a relationship between perfectionism and social anxiety. However, research has not examined the direction of this relationship using a longitudinal design. Perfectionism may be an antecedent or consequence of social anxiety, or both. Our study tested reciprocal relations between self-critical perfectionism (i.e., intense self-rebuke, negative reactions to perceived failures, and nagging self-doubt about actions) and social anxiety. We hypothesized that self-critical perfectionism would be both an antecedent and a consequence of social anxiety. A 3-wave, 12-month longitudinal design was used to test the hypotheses. Waves were spaced 6 months apart. Participants (N = 301 undergraduates) completed measures in the lab at Wave 1. Online questionnaires were administered for Waves 2 and 3. Self-critical perfectionism and social anxiety both displayed strong rank-order inter-individual stability. Social anxiety predicted increases in self-critical perfectionism. However, self-critical perfectionism did not predict change in social anxiety. Self-critical perfectionism was a consequence of, but not an antecedent of, social anxiety. Results suggest treatments that reduce social anxiety may also reduce self-critical perfectionism.

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... Maladaptive perfectionism is the expression of perfectionism with which most people are familiar. It involves harsh psychological consequences, such as shame, doubt, anxiety, and stress when one does not meet his/her standards (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015;Peer & McGraw, 2017;Steffen, 2014). Researchers have linked perfectionism with the approach-avoidance model of stress coping (Mofield et al., 2016). ...
... Social anxiety. Social anxiety is defined as a generalized fear of social situations, particularly situations in which one will be evaluated or judged (Gautreau et al., 2015;Rohrmann et al., 2016). Social anxiety is associated with both impostor phenomenon and perfectionism (Fraenza, 2016;Kananifar et al., 2015). ...
... As a result, they described trying to figure out how to "fix" themselves so they would feel connected to God. In trying to figure out how to bridge the perceived disconnect, the participants utilized the critical, internal voice that is an integral part of self-critical perfectionism (Erozkan, 2016;Gautreau et al., 2015)). P12 explained that he was "not doing something right." ...
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The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how Christians in Arizona, ages 30-50, coped with their experiences of impostor phenomenon during spiritual identity formation. The conceptual framework for this study included social influence theory, subject-object constructive-development theory, and approach/avoidance coping model of stress. Three research questions guided this study: How do Christians in Arizona, ages 30-50, experience impostor phenomenon during spiritual identity formation, How does the church support Christians in Arizona, ages 30-50, in their experience of impostor phenomenon during spiritual identity formation, and How do Christians in Arizona, ages 30-50, cope with their experiences of impostor phenomenon. The study used semistructured individual interviews with 10 participants and a semistructured focus group interview with four participants, which were a subset of the sample. The researcher utilized an inductive, thematic data analysis strategy. The data from this study resulted in four themes: We experience an ongoing identity crisis in our spiritual identity; Resources connected to overcoming impostor phenomenon during spiritual identity formation are scarce; We need help becoming more holistically authentic people; and We cope with impostor phenomenon by becoming more holistically authentic people. The data collected and analyzed in this study suggested a cyclical and symbiotic relationship between spiritual identity development and holistic identity development triggered by the stressful experience of impostor phenomenon.
... The reliability of The Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale in this study is high with the Cronbach's alpha of α=0.86 for the full analysis. The validity of this questionnaire was confirmed (9). The Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder Scale for Adolescents was developed by Brooks and Kutcher (11). ...
... Besides, there is also research conducted by Goya Arce and Polo (8) which showed that social anxiety was a moderator for perfectionistic self-presentation and for loneliness or depressive symptoms. Moreover, the research conducted by Gautreau et al. (9) found that social anxiety could be an antecedent for perfectionism instead of a consequence. Therefore, the role of social anxiety and perfectionism still remains inconclusive as there are different results shown from different researches. ...
... Therefore, the role of social anxiety and perfectionism still remains inconclusive as there are different results shown from different researches. For instance, there is a lack of research that determines the association between perfectionism and social anxiety in Asian countries, especially among the adolescent group, however, there is research shown that the onset age for social anxiety is around 13 years old, which is the stage of adolescence (9). Therefore, the aim of this research is to determine the association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. ...
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Social anxiety is explained as noticeable anxiety or fear in one or more social situations where the individual is exposed to possible analysis by others. This research is aimed to determine the association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. A final sample of 327 participants, between 13 to 18 years old, was collected. Data collection was conducted in two public secondary schools and two private high schools in Selangor. This survey included three instruments of analysis: The Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder Scale for Adolescents and Demographic Questionnaire. The results showed that there is a significant positive association between perfectionism and social anxiety. This study has proved the positive association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. Therefore, it is important to identify those students with these issues and guide them in an effective way to overcome the issues.
... The reliability of The Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale in this study is high with the Cronbach's alpha of α=0.86 for the full analysis. The validity of this questionnaire was confirmed (9). The Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder Scale for Adolescents was developed by Brooks and Kutcher (11). ...
... Besides, there is also research conducted by Goya Arce and Polo (8) which showed that social anxiety was a moderator for perfectionistic self-presentation and for loneliness or depressive symptoms. Moreover, the research conducted by Gautreau et al. (9) found that social anxiety could be an antecedent for perfectionism instead of a consequence. Therefore, the role of social anxiety and perfectionism still remains inconclusive as there are different results shown from different researches. ...
... Therefore, the role of social anxiety and perfectionism still remains inconclusive as there are different results shown from different researches. For instance, there is a lack of research that determines the association between perfectionism and social anxiety in Asian countries, especially among the adolescent group, however, there is research shown that the onset age for social anxiety is around 13 years old, which is the stage of adolescence (9). Therefore, the aim of this research is to determine the association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. ...
Article
Full-text available
Social anxiety is explained as noticeable anxiety or fear in one or more social situations where the individual is exposed to possible analysis by others. This research is aimed to determine the association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. A final sample of 327 participants, between 13 to 18 years old, was collected. Data collection was conducted in two public secondary schools and two private high schools in Selangor. This survey included three instruments of analysis: The Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder Scale for Adolescents and Demographic Questionnaire. The results showed that there is a significant positive association between perfectionism and social anxiety. This study has proved the positive association between perfectionism and social anxiety among adolescents in Selangor, Malaysia. Therefore, it is important to identify those students with these issues and guide them in an effective way to overcome the issues.
... The shortest time-frame was just 7 weeks (Sturman et al., 2015) and the longest time-frame was 10 years (Brewin & Firth-Cozens, 1997). Looking at the retention of participants over time, only five studies retained at least 80% of participants by T2 (Gautreau et al., 2015;Liu et al., 2012;McGrath et al., 2012;Sherry et al., 2013Sherry et al., , 2014 and only one study retained at least 80% of participants by T3 and T4 (McGrath et al., 2012). Four studies did not report their retention/attrition rates (Priel & Shahar, 2000;Shahar, 2006;Spasojević & Alloy, 2001;Yao et al., 2009). ...
... In terms of outcome, the vast majority of studies were concerned with either depression on its own (n = 12) or depression alongside anxiety (n = 2) or terrorism-related stress (n = 1). Only one study focused exclusively on a disorder other than depression, namely social anxiety (Gautreau et al., 2015). Only one study used a diagnostic measure, specifically the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) (Endicott & Spitzer, 1978) (Spasojević & Alloy, 2001), while most studies used one or more continuous measures. ...
... However, controlling for T1 anxiety, neither of these studies found self-criticism at T1 to significantly predict an increase in anxiety symptoms at T2. Another study observed a significant positive relationship, with moderate effect sizes, between self-criticism at T1 and social anxiety at T2 and T3 (Gautreau et al., 2015). However, controlling for T1 social anxiety, this study also did not observe self-criticism at T1 to significantly predict social anxiety symptoms at T2. ...
Article
Self-criticism is a trans-diagnostic construct that has been receiving considerable research and clinical attention. The purpose of this systematic review was to explore whether there is evidence from prospective studies that self-criticism is significantly associated with subsequent symptoms of psychopathology. Searches were carried out in four electronic databases: PsychInfo, Embase, Medline and The Web of Science Core Collection. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed and data was extracted and synthesised. Sixteen studies were identified for inclusion in this review, investigating depression only (n = 12), depression and anxiety (n = 2), depression and terrorism-related perceived stress (n = 1) and social anxiety (n = 1). In terms of depression, ten studies observed self-criticism, with weak to moderate effect sizes, to significantly predict an increase in symptoms over time. In terms of anxiety, none of the three studies found self-criticism to significantly predict an increase in symptoms over time. The one study of terrorism-related perceived stress found self-criticism, with a weak effect size, to significantly predict an increase in symptoms over time. The methodological quality of studies ranged from fair to good, with study attrition, and its subsequent consideration in the analysis process, being a primary methodological flaw. The use of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) to measure self-criticism was also problematic as this scale was designed to measure self-critical depression and includes items about depression. This systematic review provides some evidence that there is a significant prospective relationship between self-criticism and symptoms of psychopathology amongst a student sample, with the strongest evidence for depression.
... Affrunti & Woodruff-Borden, in press). Furthermore, a recent longitudinal study with college students found that social anxiety predicted increases in perfectionistic concerns (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015). Consequently, it is possible that the relationships are bidirectional: Perfectionistic concerns may predict increases in anxiety, and anxiety may predict increases in perfectionistic concerns. ...
... As regards anxiety, the study examined clinically relevant anxiety symptoms using an anxiety measure combining panic and somatic symptoms, generalized anxiety symptoms, social anxiety and phobia symptoms, separation anxiety symptoms, and school anxiety symptoms (Birmaher et al., 1997). In line with theory and research indicating that the perfectionism dimension driving anxiety is perfectionistic concerns, not perfectionistic strivings (Burgess & DiBartolo, 2016), we expected that perfectionistic concerns would predict longitudinal increases in anxiety, but also examined potential effects of perfectionistic strivings (O'Connor et al., 2010) as well as potential reciprocal effects (Gautreau et al., 2015). ...
... Furthermore, our findings suggest that anxiety symptoms do not predict longitudinal increases in perfectionism in adolescents over nine months, which stands in contrast to Gautreau et al.'s (2015) finding that social anxiety predicted longitudinal increases in perfectionistic concerns in college students over 12 months. Hence, it is possible that the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety symptoms is reciprocal, but the effects may unfold over different time spans or at different developmental periods. ...
Article
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Background and Objectives: Although perfectionism has been proposed to be a risk factor for the development of anxiety, research on perfectionism and anxiety symptoms in adolescents is scarce and inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the two higher-order dimensions of perfectionism – perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns – predict the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms. An additional aim of the present study was to examine potential reciprocal effects of anxiety symptoms predicting increases in perfectionism. Design: The study used a longitudinal design with three waves spaced 4–5 months apart. Methods: A non-clinical sample of 489 adolescents aged 12–19 years completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Results: As expected, results showed a positive effect from perfectionistic concerns to anxiety symptoms, but the effect was restricted to middle-to-late adolescents (16–19 years old): Perfectionistic concerns predicted longitudinal increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms, whereas perfectionistic strivings did not. Furthermore, anxiety symptoms did not predict increases in perfectionism. Conclusions: Implications for the understanding of the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety symptoms are discussed.
... More recent research has proposed that perfectionism is a transdiagnostic factor of a diversity of mental health disorders, including social anxiety disorder (Egan et al., 2011;Soodla & Akkermann, 2023). Despite considerable interest in the relationship between perfectionism and social anxiety (e.g., Cox & Chen, 2015;Gautreau et al., 2015;Manova & Khoury, 2023;Wang et al., 2022) there has not been a review to clarify which dimensions of perfectionism have particular relevance to social anxiety. ...
... An alternative perspective is that psychopathology such as social anxiety predicts perfectionism. Supporting this perspective, both Gautreau et al. (2015) and Spadafora et al. (2022) found that measures including social anxiety predicted increased perfectionism (selfcritical perfectionism and self-oriented perfectionism) over time in undergraduate students and secondary school students. Despite different perspectives on directionality, research supports the idea that a link between perfectionism and social anxiety exists. ...
Article
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This meta-analysis examined the relationships between dimensions of perfectionism and social anxiety. A literature search using the databases PsychINFO, Medline, and Embase yielded 40 studies. Our findings showed large to very-large-sized associations between social anxiety and dimensions of perfectionism related to perfectionistic concerns, namely socially prescribed perfectionism, doubts about actions, concerns over mistakes, and discrepancy, as well as self-presentational perfectionism. Overall, our findings suggest that when understanding and treating social anxiety, it would be worthwhile considering the individual’s beliefs that others expect perfection, their tendency to doubt their own action, their concern over making mistakes, and beliefs about needing to present themselves perfectly. Explorative moderation analysis suggests that individual differences such as age, sex, and type of social anxiety did not moderate the relationship between perfectionism and social anxiety. Region moderated the association between perfectionistic strivings and social anxiety. Sample setting should be considered when understanding how dimensions of perfectionism relate to social anxiety. Our results shed light on the importance of perfectionism in social anxiety, which may inform the future development of interventions that target perfectionism in social anxiety.
... A hallmark of evaluative concerns perfectionism is selfcriticism. Evaluative concerns perfectionists have negative reactions to their failures and if they do not meet their standards, they experience high levels of social anxiety (Gautreau et al. 2015). Evaluative concerns perfectionists prefer to be passive in social situations due to fear of being evaluated (Gautreau et al. 2015). ...
... Evaluative concerns perfectionists have negative reactions to their failures and if they do not meet their standards, they experience high levels of social anxiety (Gautreau et al. 2015). Evaluative concerns perfectionists prefer to be passive in social situations due to fear of being evaluated (Gautreau et al. 2015). Personal standards perfectionism is characterised by high, but realistic standards with positive self-evaluation (Slaney et al. 2001). ...
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Social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in adults have been known to significantly decrease an individual’s perceptions toward their quality of life, yet little is known or understood about possible therapeutic approaches in Iranian populations. This randomized, controlled trial study was designed to examine the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) on social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination among individuals diagnosed with social anxiety in Tehran, Iran. A total of 52 individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) (68% female, mean age = 35.67) were allocated to a CBT group or to a control group. The intervention group was given one session of therapy per week over a duration of 8 weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention and was placed on a waiting list. Self-reported social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination were measured before the CBT intervention, after the intervention, and two months after the intervention for both groups. Repeated measurement ANOVA revealed greater improvements in social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in the intervention group compared with the control group. The findings revealed that CBT effectively decreased social anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination in individuals with SAD offering implications for therapists and clinicians.
... We measured self-criticism using the 5-item short form of the selfcriticism subscale from Blatt et al.'s (1976) DEQ (see Bagby, Parker, Joffe, & Buis, 1994;McGrath et al., 2012). The subscale has demonstrated reliability and validity (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015). DEQ items were rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). ...
... Further research is needed to examine whether perfectionism predicts maladjustment beyond self-criticism when examining other indicators of maladjustment or when using different methods (e.g., longitudinal designs) or different measures of self-criticism. While our study differentiated evaluative concerns perfectionism from self-criticism, moderate to strong intercorrelations among these variables support other researchers' decisions to combine these variables into a superordinate factor labeled self-critical perfectionism (e.g., Gautreau et al., 2015). ...
Article
Does perfectionism predict maladjustment beyond self-criticism? Attention to this key question is needed as some studies suggest perfectionism may not explain variance in maladjustment beyond self-criticism. Using a large cross-national sample of 524 undergraduates (229 Canadian, 295 British), this study examined whether evaluative concerns perfectionism (socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions) explained variance in self-defeating behaviors (binge eating, procrastination, interpersonal conflict) after controlling for self-criticism. Results showed that-after controlling for self-criticism-concern over mistakes predicted binge eating, doubts about actions predicted procrastination, and socially prescribed perfectionism and concern over mistakes predicted interpersonal conflict. Self-criticism also uniquely predicted self-defeating behaviors beyond evaluative concerns perfectionism. The relationships that evaluative concerns perfectionism shows with self-defeating behaviors appear neither redundant with nor fully captured by self-criticism. Results dovetail with theoretical accounts suggesting evaluative concerns perfectionism is a uniquely important part of the personality of people prone to self-defeating behaviors.
... This is particularly relevant to basic psychological needs because they are proposed to operate as both antecedents and outcomes of other variables (Deci & Ryan, 2000;Ryan & Deci, 2000a), though this may also extend to self-esteem and perfectionism. Indeed, studies have found evidence to suggest that self-esteem has an important role in predicting outcomes such as depression (Orth et al., 2008), social support, and job satisfaction (Orth et al., 2012), while the emergence of perfectionistic strivings and concerns has been linked to antecedents such as social anxiety (Gautreau et al., 2015), conscientiousness , and academic efficacy (Damian et al., 2017). Consequently, while the evidence outlined in the present research provides an initial insight into the role of basic psychological needs in explaining the relationships between the two forms of perfectionism and self-esteem, future longitudinal studies could test alternative causal pathways; for example, whether self-esteem predicts the two forms of perfectionism over time, and whether basic psychological needs satisfaction and frustration mediate these relationships. ...
Article
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Previous research into two forms of perfectionism known as perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings suggests that while perfectionistic concerns are associated with lower levels of self-esteem, perfectionistic strivings are associated with higher levels of self-esteem. However, the factors that explain why these two forms of perfectionism differ in their relationships to self-esteem remain unclear. The present research—involving two studies—used a self-determination theory perspective to investigate the possibility that three basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness explain the relationships between the two forms of perfectionism and self-esteem. In Study 1 (N = 255) perfectionistic strivings were associated with higher levels of needs satisfaction and lower levels of needs frustration, while perfectionistic concerns were associated with lower levels of needs satisfaction and higher levels of needs frustration. In Study 2 (N = 260) needs satisfaction mediated the positive association between perfectionistic strivings and self-esteem, and needs frustration mediated the negative association between perfectionistic concerns and self-esteem. Taken together, these findings suggest that the basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness play an important role in explaining why some forms of perfectionism are beneficial to self-esteem and some forms of perfectionism are harmful to self-esteem.
... Several related pieces of research probed into the relationship between self-criticism and anxiety and depression. Existing longitudinal studies have identified self-critical perfectionism as a consequence rather than a cause of social anxiety, but one cross-sectional study found all negative elements significant predictors of anxiety (Carvalho et al., 2022;Gautreau et al., 2015;Sherry et al., 2014), while as for depression, self-judgement stood more as an antecedent of those symptoms (Levine et al., 2019;Matos-Pina et al., 2023;Sherry et al., 2014). Therefore, we propose that self-judgement positively predicts depression at a later time point, and shares a bidirectional prediction with anxiety, and self-kindness in the opposite direction. ...
Article
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Objectives Self-compassion has gained researchers’ attention in recent years, yet up to now there is no evidence concerning how the six different components of self-compassion interact with mental health, such as depression and anxiety in older people. Network analysis provides approaches to investigate such detailed associations among those variables in a more meticulous way. The current study aimed to model a cross-lagged network of components of self-compassion, depression, and anxiety with longitudinal data to unveil their temporal relationships among seniors. Method A sample of 345 community-dwelling elderly individuals (mean age = 83.81, 44.9% male) in Nanjing, China, was assessed with the Self-Compassion Scale and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 three times with an interval of 6 months in between. Two cross-lagged panel networks were examined to model the temporal associations among elements of self-compassion, depression, and anxiety. Results The T1–T2 Network yielded two notable cross-lagged edges while the T2–T3 Network yielded five notable edges. Centrality analysis identified depression to be the most influential in both networks, while common humanity and over-identification showed a high inclination of both influencing and being influenced by other variables in the two networks. Conclusions The study not only provided some evidence for the tendency for these elements of self-compassion to covary, but also found an unusually positive relationship between the positive components of self-compassion and anxiety, and those relations were rather unstable, highlighting the need for future studies to replicate these findings. The high influence of depression in the two networks and the complicated role of common humanity and over-identification also need further exploration into their mechanisms. Preregistration This study is not preregistered.
... Chen et al., 2023). However, most previous studies have relied on short-term longitudinal designs, variable-centered approaches and the Western population (Brook & Willoughby, 2015;Gautreau et al., 2015;Schry et al., 2016), paying less attention to the long-term dynamic changes in social anxiety experienced by college students over time. Therefore, a multiple-wave design to examine continuous trajectory of social anxiety across the university years is crucial from a developmental perspective. ...
Article
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The college stage is characterized by increased interpersonal interaction and intense social anxiety. Although the associations between social anxiety and internet-related addictive behaviors have been established, the question of whether the developmental trajectory of social anxiety is linked to subsequent internet-related addictive behaviors remains unexplored. Utilizing a longitudinal design combined with a person-centered approach, the current study examined the developmental trajectory of social anxiety among 3,861 students throughout their university years. Additionally, we explored the impacts of specific change patterns of social anxiety on subsequent internet-related addictive behaviors. The growth mixture modeling identified three distinct profiles of social anxiety: high-stable group (n=515, 13.33%), high-decreasing group (n=243, 6.30%), and low-decreasing group (n=3103, 80.37%). Furthermore, the results of binary logistic regression analysis revealed that students in the high-decreasing and low-decreasing groups were less likely to experience smartphone addiction and Internet game addiction compared to those in the high-stable group. These findings underscore the importance of identifying individuals with a high risk for social anxiety and providing them with personalized and effective mental health services to mitigate their susceptibility of developing internet-related addictive behaviors.
... In contrast, social anxiety is unrelated to features of adaptive perfectionism, including personal standards and self-oriented perfectionism (Antony et al., 1998;Nepon et al., 2011;Santanello & Gardner, 2007). Moreover, social anxiety longitudinally predicts increases in self-critical perfectionism (but not the converse), shedding light on the directionality of the relationship (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015). ...
... Not surprisingly, there is a close connection between anxiety and perfectionism. However, the relationship between them is likely to be bidirectional: not only might perfectionism lead to anxiety but anxiety may also increase self-critical perfectionism (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash & Stewart, 2015). For university students, a specific type of anxiety is particularly relevant, namely test anxiety. ...
Article
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Due to its impact on mental health and well‐being, fear of happiness is beginning to receive more attention in research. This study, conducted in Hungary, explored the relationship between fear of happiness, perfectionism, loneliness, hopelessness, and academic burnout. Participants aged between 18 and 35 years ( N = 1,148, M = 22 years, SD = 4.5) completed an online questionnaire that included self‐report measures of these constructs. In the present study, males showed higher levels of fear of happiness and perfectionism than did females. Analyses also revealed that both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, academic burnout, loneliness, and hopelessness were positively related to fear of happiness. In multiple regression analysis, gender had a positive and age had a negative role in the levels of fear of happiness. Maladaptive perfectionism, academic burnout, loneliness, and hopelessness were positive predictors, while adaptive perfectionism almost reached statistical significance. These findings highlight the predictive role of previously unexplored variables in fear of happiness.
... Il se peut donc que le perfectionnisme, surtout le perfectionnisme prescrit socialement, constitue un facteur de risque pour le développement de l'anxiété, notamment de l'anxiété sociale, comme l'a monté l'étude d ' Hesler (2016). Il est aussi possible que le perfectionnisme soit une conséquence de l'anxiété sociale, comme l'a montré l'étude longitudinale de Gaudreau et al. (2015). ...
Article
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La santé psychologique étudiante constituait déjà un enjeu important avant même l’avènement de la crise liée à la Covid-19. Les étudiants universitaires sont exposés à des niveaux de stress psychologique élevés. Parmi les dimensions étudiées en lien avec le bien-être psychologique étudiant, le perfectionnisme est de plus en plus exploré dans la littérature. Bien que le perfectionnisme puisse être adaptatif, il peut aussi constituer un facteur de vulnérabilité au stress lorsque les attentes et les aspirations dépassent les ressources de l’étudiant. Par ailleurs, la littérature a montré à plusieurs reprises le rôle du soutien social pour une bonne santé psychologique. La présente étude porte sur les effets médiateur et modérateur du soutien social sur la relation entre le perfectionnisme (orienté vers soi et prescrit socialement) et les symptômes intériorisés (anxiété et dépression) chez des étudiants universitaires. Des données longitudinales ont été recueillies à trois temps de mesure auprès de 60 étudiants au baccalauréat à l’Université de Montréal. Dans un premier temps, les analyses corrélationnelles ont montré que le perfectionnisme prescrit socialement est lié aux symptômes anxieux au temps 1 et au temps 3, ainsi qu’aux symptômes dépressifs au temps 1. Le soutien social perçu est associé négativement aux symptômes anxieux et dépressifs. Des analyses de régression linéaire n’ont pas montré que le perfectionnisme orienté vers soi et le perfectionnisme prescrit socialement sont associés à une augmentation des symptômes anxieux et dépressifs à travers le temps. Des analyses de médiation ne permettent pas de montrer que le soutien social joue un rôle médiateur sur la relation entre le perfectionnisme et les symptômes intériorisés des étudiants. Enfin, des analyses de modération ne permettent pas de confirmer le rôle du soutien social comme modérateur du lien entre le perfectionnisme et les symptômes d’anxiété et de dépression.
... Second, the result showed that FPE is not only a risk factor but also the consequence of SAD. This echoes the view of reciprocal relations models which suggested that SAD symptoms and related traits (e.g., self-critical perfectionism, FPE) could have a causal role in the development of one another (Gautreau et al., 2015;Widiger & Smith, 2008). This finding underscores the more important role of FPE (compared do FNE) in the development and maintenance of SAD (at least in healthy young adults). ...
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Background Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common mental health problem, and its core cognitive manifestation is the persistent fear of being evaluated, including both negatively (FNE) and positively (FPE). This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationships of FNE, FPE and SAD and explore their neural basis. Methods Three samples were retrieved in this study. First, the data of 649 college students who completed a survey and fMRI scan were used to explore the neural basis of FNE, FPE, and SAD symptoms. Next, the data of 450 participants who completed the same survey twice were used to examine the longitudinal relationships of the variables. Finally, the overlapping of the two samples (N = 288) who completed two surveys and the fMRI scan were used to establish a brain-behavior model. Results Both FNE and FPE predicted SAD, and SAD also predicted FPE. The neural signals of subregions in prefrontal cortex were correlated with the scores of FNE, FPE and SAD. Abnormal prefrontal signals influenced SAD symptoms via fears of evaluation. Conclusions Our findings explain the behavioral and neural underpinnings of social anxiety from a fear of evaluation angle. This contributes to a better theorical understanding of SAD and clinical practice.
... Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), for example, has been found to be more common among individuals who are highly self-critical (Cox et al., 2001;Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & SELF-CRITICISM AND NON-SUICIDAL SELF-INJURY 51 Stewart, 2015). Moreover, changes in self-criticism during treatment for SAD have been linked to prospective improvements in symptoms (Cox, Walker, Enns, & Karpinski, 2002). ...
Article
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI; e.g., harming oneself without the intent to die) is a leading health concern, and research indicates rates of NSSI are increasing. Despite the clear negative implications of NSSI, mechanisms that reinforce the continual engagement in these behaviors remain unclear. The Benefits and Barriers Model (Hooley & Franklin, 2017) proposes there are barriers that prevent most individuals from engaging in these deleterious behaviors; however, once these barriers are eroded, one becomes more likely to engage in NSSI. One such barrier is a positive association with the self. Self-criticism is generally understood as a trait lowering desire to avoid pain and bodily harm, thus decreasing the barrier of a positive self-view. Although a growing body of research supports self-criticism as an important construct in the understanding of self-harm, research is needed to clarify the role of trait versus state self-criticism in the initiation and maintenance of NSSI. The central aim of this study was to clarify the differential role of trait versus state self-criticism in the potential benefits and barriers to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Participants (N = 168, ages 18-25) included individuals with (n = 78, 87.2% female) and without (n = 90, 57.8% female) histories of NSSI. These older adolescents participated in an online session in which they responded to self-report questionnaires that assessed trait self-criticism, depressive symptoms, and perceived benefits of NSSI and completed a self-injury implicit association task. Afterwards, they underwent an induction designed to elicit feelings of state self-criticism. They then again did the implicit association task and responded to questions regarding the perceived benefits of NSSI. Levels of state self-criticism were measured throughout their participation. Before ending their online session, all participants underwent a positive mood induction. Results suggest individuals with recent (past year) histories of NSSI are more reactive to state changes in self-criticism than those with past or no history of NSSI. Participants who were reactive to changes in state self-criticism evidenced a reduction in the barriers to NSSI assessed by implicit association tasks and increases in perceived benefits above and beyond trait self-criticism. Implications for treatment are discussed.
... In particular, they propose that intense negative affect may lead to both short-time changes in personality (complication effect) and more permanent changes in personality that may remain after the intense negative affect alleviates (scar effect). For the present study, we focused on the complication model because the study's shorter time-frame did not allow for testing long-term changes in perfectionism based on longitudinal research indicating that social anxiety (Gautreau et al., 2015) and depressive symptoms (Cox & Enns, 2003;Zuroff et al., 1999) predicted increases in perfectionistic concerns. ...
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Cross-sectional studies on perfectionism and general affect tend to interpret their findings suggesting affect is an outcome of perfectionism. However, personality theories posit that individual differences in general affect may also influence perfectionism. Expecting to find bidirectional relations, this 3-wave study sought to examine the longitudinal interplay between perfectionism and general affect in a sample of 489 adolescents (54% female) aged 12-19 years. Cross-lagged panel analyses showed a positive unidirectional effect from positive affect to perfectionistic standards as well as a positive bidirectional effect between perfectionistic concerns and negative affect. As expected, general affect was both an antecedent and an outcome of perfectionism. Implications of the findings for the development and outcomes of perfectionism are discussed.
... Not surprisingly, there is a close connection between anxiety and perfectionism. However, the relationship between them is likely to be bidirectional: not only might perfectionism lead to anxiety but anxiety may also increase self-critical perfectionism (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash & Stewart, 2015). For university students, a specific type of anxiety is particularly relevant, namely test anxiety. ...
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While most studies concentrate on the negative psychological consequences of perfectionism, we know less about its antecedents. This study examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, difficulties in emotion regulation, academic anxiety and social support and maladaptive perfectionism among university students. A large sample of 1,750 students (81% female; M = 21.6 years, SD = 4.8) completed an online self‐report survey assessing these constructs. Relative to males, female participants recorded higher scores for difficulties in emotion regulation, perceived social support and debilitating anxiety but not for perfectionism. In line with previous studies, perfectionism was positively related to difficulties in emotion regulation and childhood trauma, with the former being the stronger predictive variable. Debilitating academic anxiety was also a positive but much weaker contributor. In contrast, perceived social support was a significant negative predictor of perfectionism, suggesting that perfectionists can benefit from social connections. Age and gender did not play a role in perfectionism scores. These findings draw attention to the predictive role of emotion regulation and childhood adverse experiences in maladaptive perfectionism and stimulate further research into exploring its association with social support and test anxiety.
... Research has reported both short-term (Hewitt & Flett, 1991;Levinson & Rodebaugh, 2016;Mackinnon et al., 2011Mackinnon et al., , 2013Rice & Dellwo, 2001;Smith et al., 2017) and long-term (Azevedo et al., 2010;Damian et al., 2017aDamian et al., , 2017bMaia et al., 2011;Nilsson et al., 2008;Nordin-Bates et al., 2014;O'Connor et al., 2009;Stricker et al., 2019) stability in the facets of perfectionism among students, both in relation to rank-order (Damian et al., 2013;Damian et al., 2017a;Levinson & Rodebaugh, 2016;Mackinnon et al., 2011;Rice & Dellwo, 2001;Sherry et al., 2013) and interindividual (Cox & Enns, 2003;Damian et al., 2017;Gautreau et al., 2015;Maia et al., 2011;Rice et al., 2012;Stricker et al., 2019) variation. ...
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In this study, we examined what kind of perfectionistic profiles (i.e., different patterns of perfectionistic strivings and concerns) can be identified among general upper‐secondary school students, how stable those profiles are over the school year, and how they are connected with students' motivation (i.e., achievement goal orientations). Four distinct profiles were identified. Students with high strivings and low concerns had their focus mainly on mastery, while students with an opposite profile emphasized performance‐avoidance and work‐avoidance orientations. Students with high strivings and concerns favored both performance‐ and mastery‐related goals, whereas students characterized by low strivings and low concerns did not display a dominant tendency toward any orientation. Perfectionistic profiles were relatively stable over time, with the majority of students reporting similar tendencies across the measurements, and with no extreme changes observed. Some indications of more students displaying less adaptive perfectionistic tendencies by the end of the school year were nevertheless found. Our findings demonstrate not only stability in perfectionistic tendencies, but also their motivational relevance in the academic context where students' goals and performance concerns play an important role.
... And the individuals, who think that they will not be able to make a good impression on the others, are having anxiety regarding their social appearance (Larry et al., 1988). Social anxiety is arising due to social fear or performance fear of the people especially when they face the condition of being judged by individuals who they don't know (Gautreau et al., 2015). The appearance anxiety of the individuals is being very important in order to understand at what degree they are effective on others (Seki and Dilmaç, 2015). ...
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This study is a screening model study, which aims to examine the social appearance anxiety of senior taekwondo athletes studying at university in terms of various variables. The research has been conducted on the athletes who had participated in the Taekwondo Championship of Turkey which was organized by the Turkish University Sports Federation in 2017 at the Ahi Evran University, School of Physical Education and Sports. 399 athletes who had participated in the championship are constituting the research's universe, and 228 voluntary athletes in total-as being 93 females and 135 males-are constituting the research's sample. "Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS)", which was developed by Hart et al. (2008) and whose validity and reliability study was made after being adapted to Turkish by Doğan (2010), have been used as the data collection tool of the research. In the analysis of data, descriptive statistical methods frequency (n), percentage (%) have been used for the personal information. In the assessment of scales, t-test-among the parametrical tests-has been applied in groups of two, and Anova test has been applied in the multiple groups, and .05 significance level has been selected for statistical significance. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the social appearance anxieties of senior taekwondo athletes studying at university differ as per the variables of gender and of being a national team athlete, and don't differ as per the variables of years spent in sports and weight class.
... Perfectionism was established as a transdiagnostic maintenance process for anxiety, mood, and eating disorders by a review in 2011 (Egan, Wade, et al., 2011); this review also indicated that perfectionism prospectively predicts eating disorders, depression, and bipolar disorder. More recent research supports this and indicates that perfectionism may predict anxiety symptoms (Mackinnon, Battista, Sherry, & Stewart, 2014;Mandel, Dunkley, & Moroz, 2015), although findings are mixed as to whether the relationship is prospective or concurrent (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015;Sherry, Richards, Sherry, & Stewart, 2014). Table 1 provides a summary of transdiagnostic processes and research establishing their transdiagnostic status. ...
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An ever-growing number of transdiagnostic processes that maintain psychopathology across disorders have been identified. However, such processes are not consistently associated with psychological distress and symptoms. An understanding of what makes such processes pathological is required. One possibility is that individual differences in rigidity in the implementation of these processes determine the degree of psychopathology. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between rigidity/flexibility and transdiagnostic maintenance processes. Initial searches were made for research examining relationships between 18 transdiagnostic processes and rigidity/flexibility. Relationships between rumination, perfectionism, impulsivity and compulsivity, and rigidity/flexibility were systemically reviewed; 50 studies met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies indicated that transdiagnostic cognitive and behavioral maintenance processes and rigidity were correlated, co-occurring, or predictive of each other. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that it is inflexibility in the manner in which processes are employed that makes them pathologically problematic. However, further research is required to test and establish this.
... Durante este período foram publicados mais de 1800 artigos científicos sobre o tema em revistas especializadas. O estudo do perfecionismo tem englobado áreas tão distintas como a natureza e dimensionalidade do construto ( Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & McGee, 2003;Shafran, Cooper, & Fairburn, 2003), aspetos cognitivos e metacognitivos do perfecionismo ( Macedo et al., 2015), modelos explicativos do desenvolvimento e manutenção do perfecionismo ( Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & Macdonald, 2002), perfecionismo infantil ( Oros, 2003) e o seu papel na etiologia, manutenção e desenvolvimento de quadros psicopatológicos, incluindo perturbações do comportamento alimentar ( Carvalho & Novo, 2014), depressão e ansiedade ( Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015), perturbação obsessivo-compulsiva ( Pinto, Greene, Storch, & Simpson, 2015), perturbações da personalidade ( Egan, Wade, & Shafran, 2011), perturbações do sono ( Azevedo et al., 2010) e suicídio (O' Connor, 2007). O perfecionismo tem sido definido como o "estabelecimento de padrões de desempenho excessivamente elevados, acompanhado de uma autoavaliação demasiado crítica" ( Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990), estando esses padrões elevados associados ao medo de falhar ( Flett, Blankstein, Hewitt, & Koledin, 1992). ...
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This study aimed to analyse the psychometric properties and dimensionality of the Portuguese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Frost Perfectionism (FMPS) using the confirmatory factor analysis. The sample consisted of 832 high school and college students (65.0% female) with a mean age of 19.5. The adjustment indexes of confirmatory factor analysis permitted to consider the multidimensional model of six factors the best representation of the data, replicating the original solution. The results showed good reliability and appropriate validity. The internal consistency of the scale presented satisfactory coefficients (Cronbach's alpha=.853). The test-retest method suggested a good temporal stability of the scale (r=.779). Globally the FMPS is a reliable and validated instrument for the study of perfectionism in Portugal.
... There have been mixed findings in the literature regarding the direction of the relationship, for example in longitudinal studies perfectionism has been found to predict increases in depression and the reverse relationship was also observed (McGrath et al., 2012). In contrast, while social anxiety has been found to predict increases in self-critical perfectionism, the reverse relationship was not observed (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015). Future research should consider the potential bi-directional nature of the relationships between perfectionism, repetitive negative thinking and depression in the perinatal period. ...
Article
Repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism have both been proposed as processes that are related to depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate concurrent and prospective relationships between antenatal and postnatal depression, perfectionism, and repetitive negative thinking. A longitudinal design was used and 71 women were followed from their third trimester of pregnancy to six weeks post birth. A structural equation model was tested with antenatal perfectionism predicting antenatal repetitive negative thinking, perfectionism predicting postnatal depression, and antenatal negative thinking predicting antenatal and postnatal depression. The final model provided an adequate fit to the data but the pathway from antenatal repetitive negative thinking to postnatal depression was not significant. The findings provide support for the role of perfectionism and repetitive negative thinking in the onset and maintenance of perinatal symptoms of depression. It is suggested that future research investigates the efficacy of targeting repetitive negative thinking and perfectionism in pregnancy to examine if this can reduce perinatal depression.
... Furthermore, it is important that longitudinal studies test for reciprocal effects, because these tests can yield important new (and sometimes surprising) insights. For example, Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, and Stewart (2015) conducted a 12-month, three-wave study examining selfcritical perfectionism and social anxiety. Results showed that self-critical perfectionism did not predict increases in social anxiety. ...
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In this concluding chapter, I follow the approach of the introductory chapter in taking a personal perspective to discuss what I see are critical issues, open questions, and future directions in perfectionism research. Because all chapters of this book address open questions and future directions, I only discuss topics that the chapters did not cover or that I would like to emphasize again. These include the definition and measurement of perfectionism, the question of whether perfectionism is a trait or a disposition, the need for more longitudinal studies, and the search for mediators and moderators. Further, I make a call for more research on perfectionism going beyond self-reports and point to three areas that I believe are “under-researched”: perfectionism at work; ethnic, cultural, and national differences in perfectionism; and perfectionism across the lifespan. Moreover, I address three critical issues that I find problematic because they may present obstacles to further progress in our understanding of perfectionism: focusing on perfectionistic concerns (and ignoring perfectionistic strivings), employing cluster analyses to investigate differences in multidimensional perfectionism, and assessing perfectionism with measures that do not measure perfectionism.
... In nonclinical samples, a close relationship was found between maladaptive perfectionism and trait anxiety. Furthermore, the relationship between perfectionism and more specific forms of anxiety has also been investigated [11,17,58,59]. In addition, great amount of research has proved that there is a connection between perfectionism and anxiety but it has not been determined clearly whether this relationship is independent of the relationship between perfectionism and other forms of distress. ...
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This study investigated the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism and anxiety sensitivity. The study group is composed by 398 (211 female; 187 male) students who were studying at the pedagogical formation certificate program at Mugla Sitki Kocman University. The data were collected by using the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and Anxiety Sensitivity Index-R. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was employed to study the relationships between anxiety sensitivity and dimensions of perfectionism; structural equation modeling was also used for explaining the predictive role of dimensions of perfectionism on anxiety sensitivity. Concern over mistakes, personal standards, parental expectations, parental criticism, doubts about actions, and organization dimensions of perfectionism were found to be significantly correlated to anxiety sensitivity. A significant impact of six dimensions of perfectionism on anxiety sensitivity was detected. The theoretical implications of the link between perfectionism and anxiety sensitivity were discussed.
... Performance-related social fears vary from interaction-related social fears and can be isolated. Other research suggests that social anxiety increases the level of self-critical perfectionism whereas the latter does not predict growth in social anxiety (Gautreau et al. 2015). These findings imply that the treatment of social phobia might also lower the tendency to self-critical perfectionism. ...
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This study aimed to examine whether the dimensions of dysfunctional perfectionism mediate the relationship between social anxiety and examination stress. On the grounds of previous studies and social anxiety theory it was suggested that social anxiety is positively related to examination stress and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism, in particular to concern over mistakes and doubts about actions. It was also hypothesised that two of the maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism (concern over mistakes and doubts about actions) are mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and examination stress, whereas both adaptive dimensions of perfectionism (personal standards and organization) do not mediate this relationship. The study was conducted on 148 students (124 women, 19 men, 5 participants did not report gender). Mean age was M = 22.73 (SD = 6.67). Valid, reliable and widely used psychometric tools were applied. The results were consistent with the hypotheses. Social anxiety and examination stress were positively associated with two maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism: concern over mistakes and doubts about action. However, they were not associated with personal standards nor organization. This indicates that socially anxious people may experience greater examination stress, because of their higher anxiety of being humiliated caused by the possibility of making mistakes accompanied by doubts about one’s actions.
... Another possible explanation for academic achievement predicting longitudinal increases in perfectionistic concerns may reside in the fear of positive evaluation and social anxiety. It has been shown that individuals high in perfectionistic concerns also experience higher levels of fear of positive evaluation and social anxiety (Yap, Gibbs, Francis, & Schuster, 2016) and that social anxiety predicts increases in perfectionistic concerns (Gautreau, Sherry, Mushquash, & Stewart, 2015). The fear of positive evaluation is a characteristic of socially anxious individuals and refers to the worry that positive evaluation of one's performance will raise the standards of future evaluations, but one's performance will not increase, which will lead to future failure (Wallace & Alden, 1997;Weeks, Heimberg, Rodebaugh, & Norton, 2008). ...
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Objective: Although perfectionism is a prominent personality disposition, only a few longitudinal studies have investigated how perfectionism develops. Theoretical models and qualitative studies have posited that academic success is a developmental antecedent of perfectionism. Yet, quantitative studies tend to interpret the cross-sectional relationships as academic success being an outcome of perfectionism. In light of these gaps in the literature, the present study was the first to investigate the longitudinal relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, academic achievement, and academic efficacy by examining academic success as an antecedent of perfectionism. Method: The study examined 487 adolescents (aged 12-19 years, 54% female) using a cross-lagged longitudinal design with three time points spaced 4-5 months apart. Results: Results showed that academic achievement predicted relative increases in both perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, even when including academic efficacy. In addition, academic efficacy predicted relative increases in perfectionistic strivings. Conclusions: This is the first study to show that academic achievement is a common factor in the development of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, whereas academic efficacy plays a role only in the development of perfectionistic strivings. Implications of the findings for the development of perfectionism are discussed.
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The aim of the study is to evaluate the functional balance in daily living activities of individuals with special needs with mild intellectual disability (ID). The research was carried out on a total of 100 students, 35 females and 65 males, who were studying at Alanya Special Education Vocational School in the 2021-2022 academic year, with an average age of 16.9. In the study, “Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS)” and “Special Needs and Family Information Questionnaire Form” were used. Statistical analysis was performed to determine whether the functional balance levels of the participants made a difference according to the variables of age, gender and physical activity level and participation status. As a result, physical activity (PA) Participation Status variable; They were examined in two groups as those who regularly participated in PA and those who did not participate in PA. It was determined that there was no statistically significant difference in terms of functional balance scores between those who participated in PA and those who did not, but the mean functional balance scores of those who participated in PA (x̄ =50.13) were higher than those who did not participate in PA (x̄ =48.09). Based on these results, it is recommended to test balance skills by participating in long-term and regular physical activity and to use measurement tools whose validity and reliability have been tested in the evaluation of PA in studies that will examine balance skills in children with mild ID.
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This study aims to explore the relationship between parenting styles and traits of personality like neuroticism and perfectionism in young people i.e. from 18-30. Parenting style is operationally defined as a set of attitudes or a pattern of authority that parents exercise over their children, consequently shaping the emotional landscape within which their behaviors manifest. It is postulated that parenting styles play a pivotal role in melding a child's personality, including developing perfectionism and neuroticism. The study hypothesizes a positive correlation between parenting style, perfectionism, and neuroticism. The research methodology involves the utilization of three key measurement instruments: the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale (EPQR-S), the Perceived Parenting Style Scale (PPSS), and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS). Additionally, the study incorporates demographic variables such as personal information encompassing sex, age, area of residence, family structure, occupation, and socioeconomic status. Statistical analyses including correlation, t-tests to examine gender differentials, and regression to compare subgroups were employed to assess the relationships and differences among the variables. Results suggested that there is a positive relation among parenting styles, perfectionism, and neuroticism, and statistically significant difference between both age groups, and a marginal difference between males and females.
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Introduction: Against the backdrop of increasing body image concerns among men, the present study examined two factors that might underlie men’s baldness distress: rigid perfectionism and anxiety about physical aging. Methods: An international sample of 355 men with varying degrees of baldness and an age range of 19 to 64 years were surveyed. Results: As hypothesized, participants scoring high in rigid perfectionism showed higher levels of baldness distress. This association was partially mediated by anxiety about physical aging. The mediation was not further moderated by participants’ age, degree and duration of baldness, cultural context, or racial identity, which underlines the generalizability of results. Discussion and Conclusion: The discussion centers around the partial rather than complete mediation by aging anxiety and implications of the findings for supporting balding men in the public health domain.
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The purpose of this study was to examine associations between multidimensional perfectionism and anxiety across the school year in a sample of first-generation high school students (i.e., neither parent completed post-secondary school). Three competing theoretical models were tested (i.e., the vulnerability model, in which perfectionism predicts increased psychopathology; the scar model, in which psychopathology predicts increased levels of perfectionism; and the reciprocal causality model, in which perfectionism and psychopathology predict each other over time). The sample included 148 high school students (44% boys) between the ages of 13 and 18 (M=14.90 years; SD=1.29) who were surveyed at the beginning and end of the school year. Using a half-longitudinal design with latent cross-lagged analyses, results indicated that greater anxiety predicted higher levels of self-oriented perfectionism over time, after accounting for age, sex, emotional stability, and conscientiousness. Findings support the scar model whereby psychopathology predicts perfectionism in first-generation youth.
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In recent years, the study of perfectionistic automatic thoughts (PAT) has increased given its maladaptive nature since it is link to numerous psychological disorders. From our knowledge, no previous research has addressed the relationship between PAT and the four components of aggressive behavior (anger, hostility, verbal aggression, and physical aggression. This study had a double goal. The first aim was to identify distinct profiles of PAT in a sample of 3060 Ecuadorian undergraduates (Mage=22.7, SD = 2.46. The second aim of this study was to determine whether or not statistically significant differences exist between these profiles, based on the four components of aggressive behavior. The Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (PCI) and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were used. Five profiles with different intensities in the dimensions of perfectionistic automatic thoughts were identified by Latent Class Analysis (1. No-Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts, 2. Low Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts, 3. High Perfectionistic Demands, 4. Moderate Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts, and 5. High Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts). The moderate and high perfectionistic automatic thoughts profiles obtained the highest mean scores for all components of aggressive behavior (i.e., the four factors that make up AQ: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility), while the No-perfectionistic automatic thoughts and Low perfectionistic automatic thoughts profiles had the lowest mean scores. These results provide new knowledge about the prevalence of PAT in the context of Ecuador. Also, they suggest further research on the topic given the positive relationship of PAT and aggressive behavior.
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Çalışma ergenlerin fiziksel aktiviteye katılım durumuna göre beden memnuniyeti ve sosyal görünüş kaygı düzeylerinin incelenmesi amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Fiziksel ve psikolojik açıdan çocukluğun sona ermesi, çocukluk ve gençlik arasında kalan 12-24 yaşları arasındaki (Sarı, 2008) bu önemli dönemde bireyin beden algısının oluşması, çocukluk döneminin bitip ergenlik dönemine girmesiyle fiziği ve soyut düşünce yeteneğinin gelişmesi ile başlar (Harris, 1987). Ergenlikte bedeni tartışılmaz ilgi odağı haline gelir. Bu nedenle fiziksel aktiviteye katılım durumunun ergenler üzerinde bedenle ilgili bu iki önemli konuda etkisinin belirlenmesi açısından çalışmanın önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir. Araştırmanın örneklemi; Denizli ili Merkezefendi ve Pamukkale ilçesinde yaşayan Lise öğrenimi gören 13-17 yaş arasındaki kolayda örneklem metoduyla seçilmiş 421 kişi (227 Kadın, 194 Erkek) oluşturmaktadır. Beden memnuniyet düzeyleri Avalos, Tylka ve Wood-Barcalow (2005) tarafından geliştirilen ve Orkide Bakalım ve Arzu Taşdelen-Karçkay (2016) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan Beden Memnuniyeti Ölçeği ile sosyal görünüş kaygı düzeyleri ile Hart ve arkadaşları (2008) tarafından geliştirilen ve Tayfun Doğan (2010) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan Sosyal Görünüş Kaygı Ölçeği ile ölçülmüştür. Veriler öncelikle normallik sınamasından geçirilmiş, sonucun olumlu olmasının ardından, verilerin analizinde Bağımsız Gruplarda T Testi, Tek Yönlü Varyans Analizi tekniklerinden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma bulgularına göre; fiziksel aktiviteye katılan ergenlerin, beden memnuniyetlerinin katılmayanlara oranla anlamlı derecede farklı olduğu (p<.05), sonucun fiziksel aktiviteye katılanların ortalamalarının katılmayanların ortalamalarından fazla olmasından kaynaklandığı görülmüştür. Sosyal görünüş kaygı ( SGK) puanlarının karşılaştırılmasında ise, fiziksel aktiviteye katılım durumlarına göre anlamlı farklılık oluşturmadığı ancak ortalama puanlara bakıldığında fiziksel aktivitelere katılmayan ergenlerin SGK puanlarının yüksek olduğu görülmüştür. Araştırmanın bir başka probleminde ergenlerin Beden Kitle İndexine (BMI) göre BMI ve SGK düzeyleri incelenmiş, BMI’lerine göre anlamlı fark bulunmamıştır. SGK ile BMI puanları arasında anlamlı farklılık tespit edilmemiştir. Fiziksel aktiviteye katılan ergenlerin katılmayanlara göre BMI’lerinin anlamlı şekilde yüksek olduğu, SGK düzeyleri arasındaki farkın anlamlı olmadığı; beden kitle indeksine göre ise beden memnuniyeti ve SGK’ları arasında anlamlı bir farkın olmadığı belirlenmiştir.
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Almost 30 years ago, Hamachek (1978) suggested that 2 forms of perfectionism be distinguished, a positive form labeled "normal perfectionism" and a negative form labeled "neurotic perfectionism." Focusing on the positive, we present an overview of the different empirical conceptions of the 2 forms of perfectionism and a common framework for the 2 basic approaches: the dimensional approach differentiating 2 dimensions of perfectionism (perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns) and the group-based approach differentiating 2 groups of perfectionists (healthy perfectionists and unhealthy perfectionists). Moreover, we review the evidence demonstrating that (a) perfectionistic strivings are associated with positive characteristics and (b) healthy perfectionists show higher levels of positive characteristics compared to unhealthy perfectionists and nonperfectionists. Although questions on core facets, positive effects, and developmental antecedents of positive forms of perfectionism remain, our findings suggest that self-oriented perfectionistic strivings are positive, if perfectionists are not overly concerned about mistakes and negative evaluations by others.
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A concept involving the interpersonal expression of perfection, perfectionistic self-presentation, is introduced. It is argued that perfectionistic self-presentation is a maladaptive self-presentational style composed of three facets: perfectionistic self-promotion (i.e., proclaiming and displaying one's perfection), nondisplay of imperfection (i.e., concealing and avoiding behavioural demonstrations of one's imperfection), and nondisclosure of imperfection (i.e., evading and avoiding verbal admissions of one's imperfection). Several studies involving diverse samples demonstrate that perfectionistic self-presentation is a valid and reliable construct and a consistent factor in personal and interpersonal psychological distress. It is argued that the need to promote one's perfection or the desire to conceal one's imperfection involves self-esteem regulation in the interpersonal context.
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Social evaluation and scrutiny by others are core features of social anxiety disorder. Individuals with social anxiety disorder perceive themselves as not meeting the expectations of others, and they believe others will evaluate them negatively as a result. These features of social anxiety disorder have been central concepts in theorizing perfectionism as well. Developments in the conceptualization and measurement of perfectionism make it possible to gain a much clearer picture of its role in various forms of psychopathology, including social anxiety disorder (SAD). This chapter reviews the evidence linking perfectionism with social anxiety and SAD, examining studies linking measures of social anxiety and perfectionism in nonclinical and SAD samples, and studies of the role of perfectionism in social anxiety contexts. The implications of these findings for avoidance of social-evaluative situations are also discussed.
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For symmetric unimodal distributions, positive kurtosis indicates heavy tails and peakedness relative to the normal distribution, whereas negative kurtosis indicates light tails and flatness. Many textbooks, however, describe or illustrate kurtosis incompletely or incorrectly. In this article, kurtosis is illustrated with well-known distributions, and aspects of its interpretation and misinterpretation are discussed. The role of kurtosis in testing univariate and multivariate normality; as a measure of departures from normality; in issues of robustness, outliers, and bimodality; in generalized tests and estimators, as well as limitations of and alternatives to the kurtosis measure β2, are discussed.
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The present study examined whether intolerance of uncertainty (IU) moderates the relationship between catastrophic health appraisals and health anxiety. Specifically, appraisals that ambiguous symptoms are the sign of a catastrophic health concern are proposed to be better tolerated by some individuals (i.e., those with low IU) than others (i.e., those with high IU). A large sample of medically healthy college students (N = 412) completed a scenario-based measure assessing the tendency to attribute ambiguous body sensations and symptoms to either catastrophic (i.e., catastrophic health appraisals) or minor (i.e., minor health appraisals) health concerns, as well as self-report measures of IU and health anxiety. Consistent with predictions, catastrophic health appraisals were only significantly associated with health anxiety at high levels of IU. Moreover, and showing a degree of specificity, IU did not moderate the relationship between minor health appraisals and health anxiety. Conceptual and therapeutic implications are discussed.
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Perfectionistic self-presentation is thought to confer risk for social anxiety. Although this relationship is thought to occur dynamically from moment-to-moment, no research has yet tested this relationship using experience sampling methods. The present study stringently tested whether perfectionistic self-presentation predicted social anxiety beyond several important covariates using a 21-day experience sampling design. A sample of 165 undergraduates (75.6% women) completed a series of questionnaires each day for 21 days using palm pilots. Generalizability theory and multilevel factor analyses suggested daily measures of perfectionistic self-presentation, social anxiety, perfectionism cognitions, and depressed mood evidence within-subjects and between-subjects variability, can be measured reliably, and represent distinct factors, allowing hypothesis testing. Multilevel regressions showed perfectionistic self-presentation predicted social anxiety at the between-subjects and within-subjects levels, even when controlling for socially prescribed perfectionism, perfectionism cognitions, and depressed mood. Overall, perfectionistic self-presentation emerged as a robust predictor of daily social anxiety, clearly extending prior cross-sectional research on this topic. By understanding how perfectionism operates from day-to-day, we can better understand the processes that give rise to social anxiety, and ultimately how to devise more effective ways to help people suffering from social anxiety.
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The development and validation of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) two companion measures for assessing social phobia fears is described. The SPS assesses fears of being scrutinised during routine activities (eating, drinking, writing, etc.), while the SIAS assesses fears of more general social interaction, the scales corresponding to the DSM-III-R descriptions of Social Phobia—Circumscribed and Generalised types, respectively. Both scales were shown to possess high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. They discriminated between social phobia, agoraphobia and simple phobia samples, and between social phobia and normal samples. The scales correlated well with established measures of social anxiety, but were found to have low or non-significant (partial) correlations with established measures of depression, state and trait anxiety, locus of control, and social desirability. The scales were found to change with treatment and to remain stable in the face of no-treatment. It appears that these scales are valid, useful, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications, and that they represent an improvement over existing measures of social phobia.
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Social anxiety and eating disorders are highly comorbid. Social appearance anxiety (i.e., fear of negative evaluation of one's appearance), general fear of negative evaluation, and perfectionism have each been proposed as risk factors for both social anxiety disorder and the eating disorders. However, no research to date has examined all three factors simultaneously. Using structural equation modeling in two diverse samples (N = 236; N = 136) we tested a model in which each of these risk factors were uniquely associated with social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms. We found support for social appearance anxiety as a shared risk factor between social anxiety and eating disorder symptoms, whereas fear of negative evaluation was a risk factor only for social anxiety symptoms. Despite significant zero-order relationships, two facets of perfectionism (high standards and maladaptive perfectionism) did not emerge as a risk factor for either disorder when all constructs were considered. These results were maintained when gender, body mass index, trait negative affect, and depression were included in the model. It is possible that treating negative appearance evaluation fears may reduce both eating disorder and social anxiety symptoms.
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A common concern when faced with multivariate data with missing values is whether the missing data are missing completely at random (MCAR); that is, whether missingness depends on the variables in the data set. One way of assessing this is to compare the means of recorded values of each variable between groups defined by whether other variables in the data set are missing or not. Although informative, this procedure yields potentially many correlated statistics for testing MCAR, resulting in multiple-comparison problems. This article proposes a single global test statistic for MCAR that uses all of the available data. The asymptotic null distribution is given, and the small-sample null distribution is derived for multivariate normal data with a monotone pattern of missing data. The test reduces to a standard t test when the data are bivariate with missing data confined to a single variable. A limited simulation study of empirical sizes for the test applied to normal and nonnormal data suggests that the test is conservative for small samples.
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Health anxiety involves persistent worry about one’s health and is characterized by dysfunctional inter- personal processes such as excessive health-related reassurance-seeking and feelings of alienation from others. Cognitive-behavioral models largely ignore cyclical, interpersonally averse behaviors and social cognitions observed amongst health anxious individuals. The Interpersonal Model of Health Anxiety (IMHA) proposes health anxiety is maintained through activated anxious attachment insecurities, which drive frequent, but ineffective, health-related reassurance-seeking from others. Such excessive health- related reassurance-seeking leads to health-related alienation and beliefs others are unconcerned about one’s perceived health problems. Feeling alienated from others fuels further health-related worry, result- ing in continued self-defeating attempts at health-related reassurance-seeking. The present study offers the first comprehensive articulation and test of the IMHA. Using a cross-sectional design and 107 under- graduates, path analysis supported five of six hypothesized paths in the model; all paths except that from anxious attachment to health-related reassurance-seeking were significant and in the expected direction. Specificity tests suggested anxious attachment was more central than avoidant attachment to the IMHA. The present test of the IMHA as a single, coherent model provides a conceptual foundation for future research on interpersonal processes in health anxiety. Clinical implications are discussed.
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Measurement invariance is usually tested using Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which examines the change in the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) when cross-group constraints are imposed on a measurement model. Although many studies have examined the properties of GFI as indicators of overall model fit for single-group data, there have been none to date that examine how GFIs change when between-group constraints are added to a measurement model. The lack of a consensus about what constitutes significant GFI differences places limits on measurement invariance testing. We examine 20 GFIs based on the minimum fit function. A simulation under the two-group situation was used to examine changes in the GFIs (ΔGFIs) when invariance constraints were added. Based on the results, we recommend using Δcomparative fit index, ΔGamma hat, and ΔMcDonald's Noncentrality Index to evaluate measurement invariance. These three ΔGFIs are independent of both model complexity and sample size, and are not correlated with the overall fit measures. We propose critical values of these ΔGFIs that indicate measurement invariance.
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This book describes the clinical presentation of social anxiety disorder, presents theoretical perspectives on its etiology, and examines the latest empirical data with respect to both pharmacological and behavioral interventions. Social anxiety disorder occurs in children, adolescents, and adults, but its manifestation and treatment differ depending on developmental factors. Drawing from a broad literature base as well as their extensive clinical experience, the authors illustrate the impact of developmental stage on all aspects of the disorder. They also provide practical implementation guidelines, enhanced by case examples; tips on patient management; lists of assessment instruments; and sample forms to use with clients. Since publication of the first edition in 1998, knowledge about social anxiety disorder has advanced on several fronts. The new edition includes information from new studies differentiating patterns of distress characteristic of social anxiety disorder versus shyness. It draws on more substantive data bases to support firmer conclusions about the presentation of social anxiety disorder among children and adolescents as well as across various ethnocultural groups. New assessment strategies reviewed in this book include neuroanatomical assessment using magnetic resonance imaging and well-validated self-report instruments and clinician rating scales. The authors review a greatly expanded literature addressing pharmacological treatment and psychosocial treatments. New case descriptions and clinical materials are also included. This highly informative and comprehensive volume will be illuminating reading for practitioners, researchers, and students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Hybrid models of psychopathology propose to combine the current categorical diagnostic system with shared symptom dimensions common across various disorders. Recently, the first empirically derived hybrid model of social anxiety was developed, including both a specific factor for the diagnostic category of social anxiety and 5 nonspecific factors for related symptoms. The present investigation developed a self-report measure-the Multidimensional Assessment of Social Anxiety (MASA)-based on this model to further the research on hybrid models. Method: This investigation included three studies across large undergraduate (N = 411; 52.3% male; mean [M] age = 19.6) and clinical (N = 684; 61.4% female; M age = 35.8) samples, involving the administration of the MASA item pool and existing measures of related constructs. Results: Through a series of psychometric evaluations, the initial 466-item pool was reduced to a final 38-item measure that represented 6 distinct scales with adequate model fit, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions: Together, these studies likely will lead to additional research and advances in the development of the hybrid models of the mood and anxiety disorders through the dissemination and administration of the MASA.
Article
Perfectionism is a major diagnostic criterion for one DSM-III diagnosis, and it has been hypothesized to play a major role in a wide variety of psychopathologies. Yet there is no precise definition of, and there is a paucity of research on, this construct. Based on what has been theorized about perfectionism, a multidimensional measure was developed and several hypotheses regarding the nature of perfectionism were tested in four separate studies. The major dimension of this measure was excessive concern over making mistakes. Five other dimensions were identified, including high personal standards, the perception of high parental expectations, the perception of high parental criticism, the doubting of the quality of one's actions, and a preference for order and organization. Perfectionism and certain of its subscales were correlated with a wide variety of psychopathological symptoms. There was also an association between perfectionism and procrastination. Several subscales of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), personal standards and organization, were associated with positive achievement striving and work habits. The MPS was highly correlated with one of the existing measures of perfectionism. Two other existing measures were only moderately correlated with the MPS and with each other. Future studies of perfectionism should take into account the multidimensional nature of the construct.
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Substantial evidence indicates that women report greater fear and are more likely to develop anxiety disorders than men. Women's greater vulnerability for anxiety disorders can be partly understood by examining gender differences in the etiological factors known to contribute to anxiety. This review examines evidence for gender differences across a broad range of relevant factors, including biological influences, temperamental factors, stress and trauma, cognitive factors, and environmental factors. Gender differences are observed with increasing consistency as the scope of analysis broadens to molar levels of functioning. Socialization processes cultivate and promote processes related to anxiety, and moderate gender differences across levels of analysis.
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Some researchers contend that high standards are an essential component of social anxiety. We tested this hypothesis in two independent samples. The consistent finding across samples was that higher scores on measures of high standards from two perfectionism scales predicted lower scores for social anxiety measures. These findings suggest lower, not higher, standards are involved in social anxiety, but more research is needed to clarify the implications of perfectionism, particularly the maladaptive form, in the context of social anxiety.
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Investigated depression as a normal affect state that could have continuity with types of clinical depression. A 66-item Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) was constructed to assess a wide range of experiences that, though not direct symptoms of depression, are frequently associated with it. The DEQ, the Wessman-Ricks Mood Scale, a version of the semantic differential, and the Death-Concern Questionnaire were administered to 500 female and 160 male college students. In another sample, 128 college students were given the DEQ and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Three highly stable factors emerged from the DEQ: Dependency, Self-Criticism, and Efficacy. These factors had significant differential correlations with other measures, which support the interpretation of the factors derived from the items. These data indicate the need to consider dependency and self-criticism as 2 primary dimensions of depression and the value of investigating the continuity between normal mood states and the clinical phenomena of depressions. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)