Perfectionism and depression symptom severity in major depressive disorder

In recent years it has been recognized that perfectionism is a multidimensional construct and-two Multidimensional Perfectionism Scales have been developed and investigated in-relative isolation [Frost, R.O.; Marten, P., Lahart,.C, & Rosenblate; R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research,. 14, 449-468; Hewitt, P.L., & Flett, G.L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470]. The present study sought to evaluate the association between various dimensions of perfectionism, higher-order personality dimensions, and self and observer rated depressive symptoms in a group of 145 patients with major depressive disorder. Only three of ten perfectionism dimensions (socially prescribed perfectionism,' concern over mistakes and self-criticism) displayed medium to large correlations with: depressive symptoms, especially self-report symptoms reflecting depressive cognitive distortions. The results are:discussed in relation; to the specificity of perfectionism dimensions to depression, adaptive versus maladaptive aspects of perfectionism, and in the context of previous research, much of which has relied on college student samples: (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.