Examining the Link Between Perfectionism and Psychological Maladjustment: Social Problem Solving as a Buffer

Abstract

An integrative model in which perfectionism and social problem solving were hypothesized to have additive and interactive effects in predicting psychological maladjustment (viz., depressive symptoms and suicide ideation) was proposed and tested in a sample of 371 college students. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that social problem solving added significant incremental validity in predicting scores on measures of depressive symptoms and suicide ideation beyond what was accounted for by perfectionism. Moreover, a significant Perfectionism × Social Problem Solving interaction was found in predicting each of the maladjustment measures after accounting for the influences of both perfectionism and social problem solving. These results are taken to provide preliminary support for an additive and interactive prediction model of psychological maladjustment involving perfectionism and social problem solving.