Perfectionistic self-presentation, coping, and affective response during laboratory performance.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The impact of trait perfectionism on coping and affective response has been well-documented in laboratory performances, and yet little is known about the role played by perfectionistic self-presentation in performances beyond the effects of trait perfectionism. DESIGN: We aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the relationships between perfectionistic self-presentation, maladaptive emotion-focused coping, and affective response to laboratory problem-solving tasks. METHODS: A group of 130 undergraduates attempted challenging, time-limited arithmetic and anagram tasks. Upon task completion, participants' scores were announced along with their mistakes. Additionally, participants completed measures assessing their positive and negative affect before and after lab performance, as well as coping strategies utilized during performance. RESULTS: Participants with elevated perfectionistic self-presentation experienced greater levels of negative affect and maladaptive emotion-focused coping. Moreover, nondisclosure of imperfection emerged as a significant predictor of lowered positive affect from pre- to post-performance after controlling for self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism. Path analysis indicated that both nondisplay of imperfection and nondisclosure of imperfection exerted an indirect effect on post-performance negative affect via maladaptive emotion-focused coping. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the unique contribution of perfectionistic self-presentation beyond trait perfectionism in performance settings and suggest a need for future research.

Dynamic-relational group treatment for perfectionism: Informant ratings of patient change.

Although now there is accumulating research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy for perfectionism, this research has been based almost exclusively on self-report data. In this article, we describe analyses from the University of British Columbia Perfectionism Treatment Study assessing close other informant ratings of change in perfectionism traits and perfectionistic self-presentation. A total of 61 close other informants of patients who participated in a 10-week dynamic-relational treatment for perfectionism completed measures of patient trait and self-presentational facets of perfectionism at pretreatment, at posttreatment, and at a 4-month follow-up. In support of the effectiveness of the treatment, we found that close other measures of patients' self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and all three facets of perfectionistic self-presentation were significantly reduced at posttreatment and follow-up. Close other measures of patients' socially prescribed perfectionism did not show change over the course of treatment and follow-up. The findings are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the dynamic-relational treatment of perfectionism and the utility of extending research by including close other measures of change in treatment-outcome research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychodynamic/interpersonal group psychotherapy for perfectionism: Evaluating the effectiveness of a short-term treatment.

This study sought to determine whether clinically significant improvement could be obtained using a psychodynamic/interpersonal group treatment based on a comprehensive conceptualization of perfectionism. A sample of 71 community-recruited perfectionistic individuals participated in the University of British Columbia Perfectionism Treatment Study. Eighteen of these participants were initially nonrandomly assigned to a waitlist control condition. All participants completed measures of perfectionism traits, perfectionistic self-presentation, and automatic perfectionistic thoughts, as well as measures of distress including depression, anxiety, and interpersonal problems at pretreatment, posttreatment, and at a 4-month follow-up. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that perfectionism levels decreased with large effect sizes and that these decreases were associated with reductions in distress measures. Clinically significant decreases were found in all perfectionism components, and posttreatment scores on most variables were significantly lower in the treatment condition versus the waitlist control condition. The findings suggest that psychodynamic/interpersonal group treatment is effective in treating components of perfectionism.