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Dimensions of Perfectionism and Self-worth Contingencies in Depression

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Abstract

The current study investigated the role of contingent self-worth in perfectionism and depression. It was hypothesized that perfectionism is associated with depression because perfectionists base their self-worth on being successful and on the need to be actively working toward their goals. A sample of 170 female university students completed measures of conditional self-worth, perfectionism traits, perfectionism cognitions, and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling revealed that a factor interpreted as Evaluative Concerns Perfectionism was associated strongly with contingent self-worth, which was, in turn, related to depressive symptomatology. In addition, contingent self-worth mediated the association between perfectionism cognitions and depression. Other analyses revealed that measures of self-oriented perfectionism that are often viewed as highly similar actually differed in terms of their associations with contingent self-worth. The theoretical and practical implications of the associations between perfectionism and contingent self-worth are discussed.

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Notes

  1. We compared the correlation between success based self-worth and self-oriented perfectionism to the correlation between success based self-worth and pure personal standards using Steiger’s Z (see Meng et al. 1992). The correlation between success based self-worth and self-oriented perfectionism was found to be significantly higher than the correlation between success based self-worth and pure personal standards (Z = 4.08, P < .05). In contrast, activity based self-worth did not show significantly different relationships to self-oriented perfectionism or pure personal standards.

  2. This model was compared to an alternative model in which contingent self-worth predicted evaluative concerns which in turn predicted depressive symptomatology. The alternative model had poorer fit indices (df = 8, χ2 = 15.84, P = .045, CFI = .982, GFI = .973, NFI = .965) suggesting that the order of the variables in our model was appropriate.

  3. Items pertaining to self-oriented perfectionism and pure personal standards were found to load on separate factors in a principal components analysis with varimax rotation. A 5-factor solution was obtained (i.e. five components with eigenvalues over (1) with roughly half of the self-oriented perfectionism items loading highest on the first factor and all of the pure personal standards items loading highest on the second factor.

  4. An alternative model was tested where the contingent self-worth latent variable predicted self-oriented perfectionism and pure personal standards, which in turn predicted depressive symptomatology. This model did not fit the data well (df = 3, χ2 = 52.398, P = .001, CFI = .827, GFI = .896, NFI = .823).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by major research grant #510205 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to the second author. Gordon Flett was also supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State University of New York, Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901, USA

    Edward D. Sturman

  2. Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M3J 1P3

    Gordon L. Flett & Susan G. Rudolph

  3. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Paul L. Hewitt

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  1. Edward D. Sturman
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  4. Susan G. Rudolph
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Correspondence to Edward D. Sturman.

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Sturman, E.D., Flett, G.L., Hewitt, P.L. et al. Dimensions of Perfectionism and Self-worth Contingencies in Depression. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 27, 213–231 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-007-0079-9

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