Article Reviews with

Mediator Variables
Sahrish Fatima Ali ( Roll no. – 100046)

MS 1st (Morning)
Session 2020-2022
 INTRODUCTION
• Perfectionism:
Personality trait (Bieling, Israeli & Antony, 2004)
 Defined as the need of a very high level of performance from oneself and
from others in various contexts or situations (Benson, 2003).
Multidimensional - Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism (Benson, 2003)
Multidimensional Model of Perfectionism
 Self- oriented perfectionism
 Other-oriented perfectionism
 Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (Sherry et al., 2008)
• Depression:
 A common psychopathology or mental illness that causes sad feelings and
loss of interest. It also causes a lot of physical and emotional problems (DSM-
V, 2013)
 Perfectionism causes individuals to become highly self-critical of themselves
which leads to psychopathologies like depression (Blatt, 1995).
Hamachek (1995) predicted that the association between perfectionism and
depression is mediated by self-esteem.

• Self-esteem:
For the perfectionist, the self-esteem i.e. the self-worth or the value of one’s
own self in one’s own eyes is dependent on his or her performance (Moore &
Barrow, 1986).
Whenever the perfectionist goal isn’t achieved, it decreases the self-esteem
or self-worth leading to
• Social Support:
 The socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) leads to depression and this
happens through a sense of social detachment or social disconnection (Sherry
et al., 2008)
Social Disconnection Model
 Perfectionism Social detachment (Loneliness)/ Depressive

Socially Aversive Behavior Symptoms

 Social support mediates the relationship between perfectionism and

depression (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).
 REVIEW OF ARTICLE 1
• Title - “Self-Esteem as a Mediator Between Perfectionism and
Depression: A Structural Equations Analysis”
• Journal - Journal of Counseling Psychology in 1998
• Authors- Kenneth G. Rice, Jeffery S. Ashby and Robert B. Slaney.
• Country – USA

Self-esteem

Perfectionism Depression
• Sample –

I – Participants volunteered
Group 1- Eastern university – 173 undergraduates
Group 2- Eastern University – 169 undergraduates
Group 3 – Midwestern University – 147 undergraduates

II – Random Sampling (3 Groups were combined and then divided into two
groups through random sampling )
Group 1 – 233 participants (men = 62 & women = 171)
Group 2 – 231 participants (men = 60 & women = 171)
• Instruments –
Almost Perfect Scale (APS)
Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS)
Rosenberg Self-esteem Inventory (RSI)
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

• Results –
The structural equation analysis determined that adaptive perfectionism is
neither directly nor indirectly associated with depression through self-esteem
while maladaptive perfectionism was positively associated with depression
and negatively associated with self-esteem.
 Review of Article 2
• Title - “Social Support as a Mediator of the Relationship between
Perfectionism and Depression: A Preliminary Test of the Social
Disconnection Model”
• Journal - Personality and Individual Differences
• Year – 2008
• Authors – Simon B. Sherry, Ada Law, Paul L. Hewitt, Gordon L. Flett &
Avi Besser.
• Country - UK
Social Support

Perfectionism Depression
• Sample –
• Random Selection – Department of Psychology – University of British
Columbia
• 22 undergraduates (men=53 and women=169)
• Average Age = 19 years

• Instruments –
• Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS)
• Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB)
• Social Provisions Scale (SPS)
• Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
• Results –

• Bivariate Correlation
• socially prescribed perfectionism was negatively correlated with perceived social support
but was not correlated with received social support.
• socially prescribed perfectionism was positively correlated with the depressive
symptoms.

• Structural Equations Modeling

• Perceived social support partially mediated the relationship between socially prescribed
perfectionism and depression.
• Perceived social support was negatively associated with depressive symptoms
• Received social support was not related to the depressive symptoms.
 CONCLUSION
• Similarities –
• Predictor Variable (Perfectionism) and Outcome Variable (Depression)
• Undergraduate Students
• Quantitative Studies
• Mediation Studies
• Differences –
• Mediators – Article 1 (Self-esteem) and Article 2 (Social Support)
• Results –
The results of both the studies showed that Self-esteem

the mediators partially mediated the association

between perfectionism and depression which
means a parallel mediation model can be used to Perfectionism Depression
see if both the mediators fully mediate the
relationship between perfectionism and Social
depression. Support
 SUGGESTIONS
• Evaluating the parallel mediation model.
• A qualitative research study with the patients diagnosed with major
depressive disorder and with people who have the personality trait of
perfectionism, so that various other factors, mediators or moderators could
be determined that might be influencing the relationship of perfectionism
and depression.
• A research study on a population other than college students should be done
to find out how perfectionism and its outcomes varies in populations with
various kinds of personal standards.
• The effects of perfectionism should also be compared among people of
different age groups.
• The adaptive dimension or type of perfectionism should also be studied in
detail as there is not a lot of work done on this aspect of perfectionism.