Kirk R. Blankstein’s research while affiliated with University of Toronto and other places

This study of university students (n = 357) and community adults (n = 223) examined personal standards (PS) and evaluative concerns (EC) higher-order dimensions of perfectionism that underlie several measures from three different theoretical frameworks. In both students and community adults, confirmatory factor analyses supported PS perfectionism and EC perfectionism higher-order latent factors. In relation to the revised NEO Personality Inventory, PS perfectionism was primarily related to conscientiousness and achievement striving. In contrast, EC perfectionism was primarily related to neuroticism, and lower positive emotions, trust and competence. EC perfectionism accounted for unique variance in current depressive and anxious symptoms over and above the five-factor domain scores. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Two studies tested the hypothesis that self-reports of emotional experiences contain components of impression-management and self-deception. In study 1, subjects provided retrospective self-reports of the frequency, intensity and duration of 14 positive and 14 negative emotions. Subjects also completed measures of impression-management and self-deception. Correlational analyses confirmed that the impression-management and self-deception measures were correlated significantly with the reported frequency, intensity and duration of the negative emotions. Self-deception, but not impression-management, was correlated with ratings of the positive emotions. The self-report biases associated with negative emotions were further investigated in study 2. Correlations were computed among measures of impression-management, self-deception and dimensions of anger. Consistent with study 1, the results showed that impression-management and self-deception scores are correlated significantly with self-reported dimensions of anger. The need for a self-presentational approach to the study of emotional experience is discussed.

We investigated perfectionism in clinical samples using new measures of maladap-tive cognitive-personality dimensions—the Evaluative Concerns Perfectionism Scale (ECPS) and Self-Critical Perfectionism Scale (SCPS), as well as the Frost (FMPS) and the Hewitt and Flett (HMPS) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scales. Outpatients (N = 190) with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PDA), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or predominantly major depressive disorder were compared to non-psychiatric con-trols. Patients with depression and SAD had similar or significantly higher scores than the controls, and patients with PDA and/or OCD on many perfectionism measures. OCD patients were also higher than controls and those with PDA on many scales. PDA patients were similar to controls on all but a few measures. The SCPS was the only consistent unique positive predictor of variance on the Depres-sion Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) in a combined patient group.

The current study examined the associations among trait dimensions of perfectionism, test performance, and levels of positive and negative affect after taking a test. A sample of 92 female university students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale one week prior to an actual class test. Measures of positive affect and negative affect were obtained immediately following the classroom test. It was found that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated significantly with lower positive affect, greater negative affect, and poorer test performance. In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism is associated significantly with higher state positive affect but not with test performance or with state negative affect. Other-oriented perfectionism is associated significantly with both positive affect and enhanced test performance. The results are discussed in terms of the need to examine trait dimensions of perfectionism within the context of ongoing and actual performance outcomes experienced by perfectionistic students.

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.

We examined the mediational role of self-esteem in the relation between evaluative concerns (EC) and personal standards (PS) perfectionism, and measures of personal concerns, academic concerns, and estimated grade point average (EGPA) in 386 university students. Self-esteem partially mediated the relation between EC perfectionism and students’ personal and academic concerns. EC perfectionism was a weak predictor of EGPA. PS perfectionism was not related to academic concerns. Although PS was associated with personal concerns both directly and indirectly through low levels of self-esteem in women only, these findings did not hold when controlling for EC perfectionism. PS perfectionism had a direct positive relation with EGPA. Neither PS nor EC perfectionism interacted with self-esteem to predict unique variance in personal or academic concerns or EGPA. The results are consistent with our view that a perfectionism dimension that is primarily maladaptive can be distinguished from a dimension that can be adaptive. The implications for research and treatment are considered.

The current study examined variables (daily hassles, self-esteem, dispositional optimism, coping modes, and perceived social support) that could potentially moderate associations between dimensions of perfectionism and current feelings of hopelessness and suicide ideation in university students (144 women; 61 men). Our study revealed several significant findings: (1) socially prescribed perfectionism was a significant predictor of suicide ideation, interpersonal hopelessness, and achievement hopelessness for both women and men; (2) self-oriented perfectionism did not have an independent relation with any of the suicide risk outcome variables in either women or men; (3) other-oriented perfectionism was associated negatively with both current hopelessness, particularly interpersonal hopelessness, and suicide ideation in men; (4) the cluster of proposed moderators accounted for additional unique variance in all suicide risk variables in women but in achievement hopelessness only in men; (5) optimism and social hassles were unique predictors but the results varied as a function of gender and outcome; (6) each perfectionism component interacted with specific moderators to enhance or buffer the link between perfectionism and suicide risk. The findings indicate that self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism are possibly adaptive or maladaptive under certain conditions. Implications for the development of comprehensive, multidimensional, integrated models of the perfectionism–suicide risk link and for prevention and treatment in perfectionists at risk of suicide are discussed.

The present study evaluated the hypothesis that major life events differ from daily life hassles in the extent to which a person receives social support and seeks social support. Specifically, it was expected that the experience of major life events would be associated with the greatest social support. The subjects were 320 students (160 men, 160 women). Each subject read a scenario describing a male or female target person who had experienced either major life events or daily hassles. Subjects then rated the amount of emotional support and the amount of practical support that the target person would receive and would seek from significant others. The analyses confirmed that targets who had suffered severe events in the form of major life events were rated higher in both seeking and receiving social support from significant others. These differences were present for the ratings of emotional support and practical support. Overall, the findings suggest that the greater negative influence of daily hassles on psychological adjustment may be due, in part, to the reduced social support associated with the experience of daily life hassles. The implications of the findings are discussed with particular reference to help seeking in therapeutic contexts.

The present study compared the relative predictive value of specific perfectionism components, as measured by the Hewitt and Flett (1991) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate (1990) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, with self-criticism assessed by the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt, D’Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976) in predicting maladjustment. University students (64 men; 99 women) completed questionnaires in a laboratory session and then for seven consecutive days. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported self-criticism as the most robust predictor of retrospective summary and aggregated daily measures of daily stress, avoidant coping, low perceived social support, negative affect, and low positive affect. Specific perfectionism components did not exhibit unique relations with maladjustment.