Examining the Protective Effects of Self-Esteem in Self-Critical  Perfectionism and Demoralization

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10245/10453-thumbnail.jpgIncreasing prevalence of distress disorders (i.e., major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder) among young adults highlights the need to understand factors that may contribute to these problems (Mirzairad et al., 2016). One commonly studied factor implicated in distress disorder development is self-critical perfectionism (SCP), or maladaptive concern over mistakes and having extremely high standards (Sherry et al., 2013; Wang, Sheveleva, & Permyakova, 2019). Past research suggests that protective factors, such as high self-esteem, may buffer the effects of SCP on distress disorder symptomology (Feng et al., 2018). The goal of this study was to replicate and extend the previous research and re-examine whether self-esteem moderates the association between SCP and demoralization (a primary marker of distress disorders; Sellbom, Ben-Porath, & Bagby, 2008) among college students. Using a sample of 276 undergraduates, we first calculated zero-order correlations between scores on measures of SCP (Big Three Perfectionism Scale; Smith et al., 2016), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; Rosenberg, 1965), and demoralization (RCd of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008/2011), which indicated moderate to strong associations between all variables. We also performed regression analyses to examine the main and interactive effects of SCP and self-esteem on demoralization. Results suggest that, although SCP and self-esteem did have significant main effects on demoralization, they did not have a significant interactive effect. In all, contrary to previous research, our data did not support the buffering effect of self-esteem on SCP and distress disorder symptomology. Clinical implications and limitations are discussed