Stress and anxiety common among perfectionists

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Perfectionism: An excellent Predictor of Stress and Anxiety

Persona research has uncovered a number of connections between traits and clinically-significant mental health concerns. For example , neuroticism has been shown to become predictive of tension and depressive disorder, while introversion is a common attribute among those suffering from social phobias (reviewed by Bienvenu et al., 2004). Although some these characteristics may be refractory to specialized medical intervention, insights into associations between lower-order personality dimensions and clinically-significant psychological concerns may clear new paths for treatment. Among the list of more interesting nature is perfectionism, because it have been linked to ingesting, anxiety, depressive, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, moreover to personal self-efficacy and achievement (Stairs, Smith, Zapolski, Combs, Forms, 2011). To raised understand the scientific relevance of perfectionism the findings of several research will be examined here.

A huge (N sama dengan 731) research examined the prevalence with the big five personality websites among people suffering from a range of disorders (Bienvenu ou al., 2004). Neuroticism was universally predictive of these disorders (p?. 01), while conscientiousness, a trait similar to perfectionism, was minimally associated. The most common part of conscientiousness among the list of disorders was self-discipline, which in turn showed an important relationship with simple terror, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and significant depressive disorder (MDD) (p?. 002). The conscientiousness areas of competence, going after achievement, and deliberation, however , were simply associated with interpersonal phobia. These types of findings advise neuroticism and conscientiousness happen to be distinct qualities, as Stairways et approach. (2011) possess concluded.

Stairways and acquaintances (2011) discovered nine unique traits amongst 15 diverse instruments built to quantify perfectionism and then merged these into a single instrument known as the Measure of Constructs of Perfectionism (M-CUP). Notably, perfectionism was deemed a part of conscientiousness with an internal regularity of. 79 (Stairs ou al., 2011, p. 148). The facets of conscientiousness from your study by Bienvenu ain al. (2004) that appear to match the traits fundamental perfectionism, while defined simply by Stairs ain al. (2011), are self-discipline and deliberation (order, information and checking).

Gnilka and colleagues (2012) reviewed early theories discerning between adaptable and maladaptive perfectionism. The latter representing an inability to try out positive affect because of a great interminable discrepancy between their standards and perceived efficiency. When this kind of definition was applied to scholars, a discrepancy subscale correlated significantly with anxiety, self-controlling behaviors, removing, accepting responsibility, and escape-avoidance behaviors (p < .05).="" in="" a="" separate="" study,="" dittner="" and="" colleagues="" (2011)="" examined="" the="" relationship="" between="" negative="" perfectionism="" and="">stress in college students during the period of a semester. Negative perfectionism scores were from a conditional acceptance subscale, that has been based on the facets of poor academic overall performance, ineffective pursuit of goals, higher levels of mental distress, and low self-pride. Significant correlations were acquired between bad perfectionism and depression at the outset of the semester (p < .01),="" and="" physical="" fatigue="" (p="">< .05),="" depression="" (p="">< .05),="" and="" negative="" perfectionism="" (p="">< .01)="" at="" the="" end="" of="" the="">

The above research findings clearly show a relationship between perfectionism and psychological distress or illness. Featuring prominently are anxiety and related disorders. To build upon this body of work the instrument developed and tested by Stairs et al. (2011) will be used to further investigate the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety, and perfectionism and stress. The hypotheses are as follows:

1. The order subscale will be significantly associated with anxiety, based on the findings of Bienvenu et al. (2004).

2. Given the findings of Dittner et al. (2011), the order subscale will be inversely correlated with stress.

3. The high standards subscale will have a positive, but weak association with anxiety and stress, based on the findings of Bienvenu et al. (2004) and Dittner et al. (2011), respectively.

4. The reactivity to mistakes subscale would probably be classified as maladaptive (Gnilka, Ashby, Noble, 2012) or negative (Dittner, Rimes, Thorpe, 2011) perfectionism; therefore, a significant relationship will exist between this subscale and anxiety and stress.

5. The perceived pressure from others subscale does not align well with any of the scales discussed above, because it could be adaptive or maladaptive and is not a facet of conscientiousness as defined by Bienvenu et al. (2004); however, individuals with high scores on this subscale would probably experience low levels of anxiety and little to no stress. Accordingly, perceived pressure from others will be weakly correlated with anxiety, but not stress.

Methods

Participants

Primarily young adults (363 females, 82 males, Mage = 25.81 years, SD = 9.39, range: 18-66 years) participated in the study. Recruitment occurred in the Personality unit or via a link to the survey sent by students in the Personality unit. All participants were made aware of the fact that the survey was for their assignment.

Materials

Perfectionism was quantified using the M-CUP (Stairs et al., 2011). Only four of nine subscales were used: (1) high standards, (2) order, (4) reactivity to mistakes, and (5) perceived pressure from others. The number of items per subscale was 6, 9, 6, and 7, respectively, for a total of 28. A 7-point Likert scale was used, where 1 = “Strongly disagree” and 7 = “Strongly agree”; therefore, the higher the score for a given scale, the greater the confidence that a participant would have that trait.

Anxiety and stress was quantified using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), Short-Form (Lovibond Lovibond, 1995). Of the three subscales available, only two were used in the current study: (1) anxiety and (2) stress. Each subscale had 7 items, for a total of 14. A 4-point Likert scale was used, where 0 = “Did not apply to me at all” and 3 = “Applied to me very much, or most of the time.” A high score on the anxiety scale would predict increased autonomic arousal, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect; whereas, a high score on the stress scale would predict increased chronic, nonspecific arousal and worry.

Procedure

The data obtained from the two instruments were analyzed by HPS307/791 staff. Individual scores were calculated for each subscale by summing the scores for each item within a subscale.

Results

The study participants were primarily female (82%) and young adults (N = 445, Mage = 25.81, SD = 9.39), recruited from the Personality unit in the Department of Psychology. As described in the Methods section, all subscales for the M-CUP and DASS were structured so that high scores would predict the existence of that trait in an individual. In general, participants were experiencing low and moderate levels of anxiety (Manxiety = 7.47, SD = 8.36) and stress (Mstress = 16.70, SD = 9.31), respectively (Table 1, top). The subscales for perfectionism were well above midrange, with order (Morder = 46.37, SD = 10.14) and high standards (Mstandards = 32.96, SD = 7.16) having the highest means. The other two subscales, pressure from others (Mpressure = 23.98, SD = 8.29) and reactivity to mistakes (Mmistakes = 30.04, SD = 9.39), were also above midrange.

To determine whether there was a relationship between perfectionism and anxiety or stress, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated (Table 1, bottom). A significant relationship between anxiety and the two perfectionism subscales of order (r (443) = .090, p >.05) and high standards (r (443) = .033, p >. 05) was not identified; however , panic levels had been correlated with pressure from other folks (r (443) =. 223, p < .001)="" and="" reactivity="" to="" mistakes="" (r="" (443)=".415," p="">< .001),="" such="" that="" higher="" anxiety="" levels="" predicted="" greater="" felt="" pressure="" from="" others="" and="" reactivity="" to="" mistakes.="" although="" the="" magnitude="" of="" the="" correlation="" between="" stress="" and="" the="" two="" perfectionism="" subscales="" of="" order="" (r="" (443)=".135," p="">< .01)="" and="" high="" standards="" (r="" (443)=".199," p="">< .001)="" was="" low,="" statistical="" significance="" was="" reached.="" since="" stress="" and="" anxiety="" were="" strongly="" and="" positively="" correlated="" (r="" (443)=".537," p="">< .001),="" the="" magnitude="" and="" sign="" of="" correlation="" coefficients="" for="" each="" perfectionism="" subscale="" were="" comparatively="" similar="" between="" anxiety="" and="" stress.="" accordingly,="" the="" relationship="" between="" stress="" and="" pressure="" from="" others="" (r="" (443)=".319," p="">< .001),="" and="" reactivity="" to="" mistakes="" (r="" (443)=".465," p="">< .001),="" were="" strong="" and="" also="" significant.="" overall,="" the="" perfectionism="" traits="" of="" felt="" pressure="" from="" others="" and="" reactivity="" to="" mistakes="" were="" stronger="" predictors="" of="" anxiety="" and="">

Stand 1 .

M-CUP and WENN subscale scores and the romantic relationship between characteristics of perfectionism and stress

M

SD

Possible Sub-Scale Range

Anxiousness

7. forty seven

8. thirty six

0 – 42

Stress

16. 70

9. 31

0 – 42

Purchase

46. 37

10. 13

7 – 63

Substantial Standards

32. 96

7. 16

7 – 42

Pressure by others

23. 98

8. 29

7 – 42

Reactivity to mistakes

35. 04

on the lookout for. 39

7 – 49

Correlations (r)

Anxiety

Tension

Order

. 090

. 135*

Substantial standards

. 033

. 199**

Pressure from others

. 223**

. 319**

Reactivity to mistakes

. 415**

. 465**

Remarks: * sama dengan significant for p < .01;="" **="significant" at="" p="">< .001;="" anxiety="" and="" stress="" were="" significantly="" correlated="" (r=".537," p=""><>

Dialogue

The current results confirm simply the recommended hypotheses. All of us predicted

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