Adverse parenting and perfectionism: A test of the mediating effects of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and perceived defectiveness

The developmental model of perfectionism in the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) posits that perfectionism may arise from insecure attachment (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) and perceived defectiveness rooted in asynchronous or adverse parent-child relationships. To provide a test of the developmental portion of the PSDM, we examined the mediating effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance as well as perceived defectiveness on the associations between adverse parenting and trait and self-presentational components of perfectionism among 344 undergraduate students (79.9% female, Mage = 20.29). Congruent with the PSDM, we found significant positive correlations between adverse parenting, attachment anxiety and avoidance, perceived defectiveness, and various components of perfectionism. Adverse parenting had an indirect effect on trait and self-presentational perfectionism via attachment insecurities and perceived defectiveness. Results also suggest that adverse parenting may be associated with different constellations of attachment insecurities and perceived defectiveness that underlie different components of perfectionism. Together, this study provides additional support for the developmental model of perfectionism outlined in the PSDM by linking perfectionism with adverse parenting, attachment insecurities, and perceived defectiveness.