Cognitive Therapy and Research, Vol. lO, No. 1, 1986, pp.

137-142

Perfectionism, Stress, and Vulnerability

to Depression
Paul L. Hewitt 1'3 and Dennis G. Dyck 2
University of University of Manitoba
Saskatchewan

The relation between stressful life events, perfectionism, and relative depres-
sion in a university sample was studied. Results indicated that the relationship
between stressful events and depression was significant only for participants who
scored above the median on a scale o f perfectionistic attitudes. Additional
regression analyses indicated that later depression was significantly predicted
by prior depression and current perfectionistic attitudes. On the other hand,
stressful life events and prior perfectionistic attitudes did not significantly predict
later depression. Taken together these findings suggest that perfectionistic at-
titudes are a concomitant of depression and that they may mediate the rela-
tionship between stress and depression. Although strong evidence of cognitive
vulnerability was not obtained, the need for controlled experimentation with
clinical samples was discussed.

KEY WORDS: perfectionism; stress; vulnerability; depression.

Although the concept of perfectionism has little direct representation

in the psychological literature (Hollender, 1978), related concepts (e.g.,
excessive self-standards, irrational beliefs) have received much emphasis in
cognitive approaches to depression (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979;
Meyersburg, Ablon, & Kotin, 1974). For example, Beck and colleagues state

This article is based on part of an honour's thesis by the first author under the direction of
the second author. The study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada, Grant #A9941. The authors thank Linda Wilson, Myles Genest, and David
Burns for assistance in completion of the research.
1Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
S7N OWO.
2Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2.
3All correspondence should be addressed to Paul Hewitt, Department of Psychology, Universi-
ty of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N OWO.
137
0147~5916/86/02004~137505.00/0 © 1986PlenmnPublishingCorporation
138 Hewitt and Dyck

that cognitive schemata, constituted in part of rigid and excessive rules, confer
a vulnerability to depression that is activated by stressful life events. Although
there is preliminary evidence that depressed children (Leon, Kendall, &
Garber, 1980), as well as adults (Lapointe & Crandell, 1980), endorse more
perfectionistic attitudes than their nondepressed counterparts, the role of such
cognitions in mediating the effects of stressful events on depression has rarely
been studied. Indeed, the only support for the interactional hypothesis derives
from a study by Olinger as discussed in Kuiper, Olinger, and MacDonald
(in press). It was reported that only those individuals who simultaneously
experienced a high level of aversive life events (as measured by a modified
version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, DAS; Weissman & Beck, 1978)
and were high on a measure of vulnerability (as measured by the DAS) were
within the depressed range of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDt; Beck,
Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). Others have found that en-
dorsement of irrational beliefs mediated the relationship between stressful
life events and physical distress but not psychological distress (Smith, Boaz,
& Denney, 1984).
The present study may be seen as an attempt to conceptually replicate
the findings reported in Kuiper et al., (in press) but with a different measure
of stressful life events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) and a slightly different measure
of cognitive vulnerability (i.e., perfectionistic attitudes, Burns; 1980). It
was predicted that the relationship between stress and depression should be
relatively higher among individuals with perfectionistic attitudes than among
individuals not having such attitudes. A further prediction deriving from the
interactional hypothesis was that stress combined with perfectionism would
significantly predict later depression beyond the prediction afforded by in-
itial level of depression.

METHOD

Subjects

One-hundred and five male and female college students were recruited
from an introductory psychology class at the University of Manitoba.

Materials

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a 21-item self-report scale that

assesses the severity of depressive symptomatology. Validity and reliability
data have been reported elsewhere (e.g., Bumberry, Oliver, & McClure, 1978;
Hammen, 1980).
Perfectionism, Stress, and Depression 139

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) is a well established

measure of stressful life events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967), containing events
such as death of spouse, retirement, and so forth, scaled on a dimension
of adjustment called Life Change Units. The relation between life change
scores and illness has been documented (e.g., Paykel, 1979; Rahe & Arthur,
1968).
The Perfectionism Scale (PFS) is a 10-item self-report scale intended
to assess the level of perfectionistic thinking (Burns, 1980). Each item
describes a belief that is rated on a 5-point scale ranging from "I agree very
much" to "I disagree strongly." Scores can range from - 2 0 (nonperfec-
tionistic) to + 2 0 (perfectionistic). Preliminary work provides reasonable
estimates of test-retest reliability over 2 months (r = .63) and internal con-
sistency (coefficient alpha = .70). As a measure of construct validity, 198
subjects who were given the PFS were asked to indicate whether a series of
24 perfectionistic adjectives described the way they would like to be. The
correlation between the number of yes-rated perfectionistc words on this
dichotomous ideal-self-reference task and PFS scores was modest but signifi-
cant, r(197) = .23, p < .001). Thus, preliminary evidence suggests that the
PFS scale carries some reliability and validity as a measure of perfectionistic
thinking.

Procedure

The subjects completed the BDI and PFS twice (2 months apart) and
the SRRS only on the first occasion. For correlational analyses, those par-
ticipants scoring above zero on the PFS scale (the median) at Time 1 were
categorized as perfectionists and those scoring equal to or below zero were
labeled nonperfectionists. Additional analyses using stepwise multiple regres-
sion procedures were performed. Summary statistics as well as comparison
of perfectionists and nonperfectionists on the depression and stress measures
are provided in Table I.

RESULTS

The relation between perfectionistic attitudes, depression scores, and

stressful events was initially explored through correlational analysis. The first
correlation reported involves PFS scores and BDI scores at two separate points
in time. This analysis indicated that the variables were not correlated at Time
1, r(103) = .14, p > .05, but they were correlated at Time 2, r(103) =
35, p < .001. Although the reasons for this inconsistent relation are not en-
tirely clear, it is possible that this pattern was mediated by academic stressors
140 Hewitt and Dyck

Table I. Means, Standard Deviations, and FValues of Time 1 and Time 2 Beck Depres-
sion Inventory (BDI) and Perfectionism Scale (PFS) Scores, and Time 1 Social Read-
justment Rating Scores (SRRS) as a Function of Perfectionism
Perfectionism
Low High
Scale X SD X SD F(1, 103) Marginal
BDI
Time 1 6.9 5.8 8.6 8.2 1.4 7.7
Time 2 6.9 5.7 8.6 7.3 2.1 7.8
PFS
Time 1 -3.9 4.0 4.5 3.2 133.9~ -0.12
Time 2 -2.7 6.3 3.9 5.1 33.3a 0.27
SRRS 269.5 136.6 255.4 120.6 0.31 263.16
"p < .OOl.

that were low at the beginning of the academic year (Time 1) but high dur-
ing the midterm period (Time 2).
The results relevant to the interaction between stress and perfectionism
on depression were evaluated initially through correlational procedures. The
interactional hypothesis was supported by significant correlations between
stress and depression for perfectionists, r(45) = .27, p < .05; r(52) = .32,
p < .05 for Times 1 and 2, respectively; but not for nonperfectionists, r(56)
= - .10, p > .05, and r(49) = .01, p > .05, respectively, for Times 1 and 2.
To provide further information on the hypotheses in question the data
were entered into a stepwise multiple regression analysis to predict Time 2
depression level. In keeping with the truism, the most powerful predictor
of later depression was prior depression, F(1, 103) = 47.32, p < .01 with
R 2 of .31. Beyond the effect of initial depression, a significant amount of
the variance in Time 2 depression scores was accounted for by Time 2 perfec-
tionism scores, F change (2, 102) = 10.89, p < .01, increasing R 2 to .38.
However, in contrast to predictions derived f r o m cognitive vulnerability
hypotheses the addition of stress scores, either alone or in combination with
Time 1 perfectionism scores, failed to contribute to the prediction of later
depression, F change (4, 100) = 1.85, p > .05. These results suggest then
that perfectionistic thinking is associated with depression but does not signifi-
cantly predict later depression beyond t h e effects of prior depression.

DISCUSSION

The present results permit three generalizations concerning the role of

perfectionistic thinking in depression. First, perfectionistic attitudes are
associated with current depression level and predict severity beyond that af-
Perfectionism, Stress, and Depression t41

forded by the variable of prior depression. Second, the relationship between

stressful life events and depression is significantly elevated among perfec-
tionistic individuals. Third, prior perfectionistic attitudes, either alone or in
combination with stressful life events, did not significantly predict later
depression.
The observation that perfectionistic attitudes were associated with cur-
rent depression level is consistent with other studies that have used different
measures of perfectionism and dysfunctional attitudes (e.g., LaPointe &
Crandell, 1980; Leon et al., 1980; see also Kuiper et al., in press; Smith et
al., 1984). Although the demonstration of this association with different
measures may be indicative of convergent validity, it is not known to what
extent different measures of cognitive dysfunction overlap in terms of con-
tent. Alternately, the various scales may tap a common response set (e.g.,
uncritical acceptance of high ideals) and for these reasons more research is
needed to understand the basis of the rather general relationship between
the various measures of cognitive dysfunction and depression.
The rather weak support for perfectionism as a cognitive vulnerability
factor may stem from the fact that the SRRS is a general measure of stressful
life events and may not adequately tap the stresses experienced by university
students. The present study might have profited from a more focused measure
of stressful events such as academic failure, peer rejection, or other ego-
involving stressors. On the other hand, the present findings are consistent
with recent investigations showing that depressive cognitions are highly mood-
congruent (Dyck, Erdile, Herbert, & Hewitt, 1983; Hammen, Dyck, &
Miklowitz, in press) and difficult to detect in nondepressed states.
Two important limitations of the present study should be acknowledg-
ed. First, the correlational design does not allow the assessment of causali-
ty, and therefore, a provocative test of the vulnerability model is needed to
test its adequacy. A second limitation was the use of a college sample. This
limits the generalizability of the present findings.

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