PERFECTIONISM, COPING, AND DEPRESSION SYMPTOMATOLOGY IN A CLINICAL-SAMPLE

The present study examined the link between perfectionism and coping and the extent to which both perfectionism and coping dimensions relate to depressive symptomatology. A sample of 121 psychiatric patients completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results confirmed that self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism were associated with maladaptive coping tendencies, but the results varied by gender. Analyses of BDI scores revealed that depression was associated positively with socially prescribed perfectionism for both men and women. Regression analyses found that the interaction of self-oriented prefectionism and emotion-oriented coping predicted unique variance in depression. Analyses of coping and depression scores by gender found that depression was associated with emotion-oriented coping among men. In contrast, among women, depression was associated negatively with task-oriented coping, avoidance, and social diversion. The results suggest that levels of emotional adjustment reflect stable individual differences in self-standards and perceived social standards and related coping tendencies.