Details:In preparation for this assignment, read the “Maladaptive Perfectionism as a Mediator and Moderator Between Adult Attachment and Depressive Mood” article located in the Topic 3 readings. ( attached below)Write a 750-1,000-word paper about your selected article. Be sure to include the following in your paper:A discussion about the key variables in the selected articleIdentify the validity and reliability reported statistics for the articleThe particular threats to internal validity that were found in the studyThe strengths and limitations of the multivariate models used in the selected articleA reference and in-text citations for the selected article as well as one additional referencePrepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.This assignment meets the following CACREP Standard: 2.F.8.i. Analysis and use of data in counseling.
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Journal of Counseling Psychology
2004, Vol. 51, No. 2, 201–212
Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association
0022-0167/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-0167.51.2.201
Maladaptive Perfectionism as a Mediator and Moderator Between Adult
Attachment and Depressive Mood
Meifen Wei
Brent Mallinckrodt
Iowa State University
University of Missouri–Columbia
Daniel W. Russell and W. Todd Abraham
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Iowa State University
This study examined maladaptive perfectionism (concern over mistakes, doubts about one’s ability to
accomplish tasks, and failure to meet high standards) as both a mediator and a moderator between adult
attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and depressive mood (depression and hopelessness). Survey data
were collected from 310 undergraduates and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM)
methods. Results indicated that maladaptive perfectionism partially mediated the relationship between
attachment anxiety and depressive mood and fully mediated the relationship between attachment
avoidance and depressive mood. Bootstrap methods were used to assess the magnitude of the indirect
effects. Significant moderator effects were also found with SEM methods. The association between
attachment anxiety and depressive mood was stronger as perfectionism increased. Perfectionism was not
a significant moderator for attachment avoidance and depressive mood.
an insecure adult attachment orientation. By contrast, people with
low levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance have the capacity
for secure adult attachment, a positive sense of personal competence, and the ability to maintain supportive attachments (Brennan
et al., 1998; Lopez & Brennan, 2000; Mallinckrodt, 2000).
Previous empirical research has provided strong evidence for a
link between insecure attachment and various forms of psychological distress (for reviews, see Lopez & Brennan, 2000; Mikulincer
& Shaver, 2003). For example, relative to their secure counterparts, people with insecure attachment reported greater distress and
hostility during a laboratory problem-centered discussion (Simpson, Rholes, & Phillips, 1996), greater affective intensity and
emotionality in their daily life (Pietromonaco & Barrett, 1997),
more depressive symptoms (Roberts, Gotlib, & Kassel, 1996),
greater interpersonal problems (Mallinckrodt & Wei, 2003), and
more emotional distress (Collins, 1996). Thus, the link between
various forms of insecure attachment and indices of psychological
distress (e.g., depressive mood) has been fairly well established.
More recently, research linking attachment insecurity and distress
(e.g., depressive mood) has been shifting from an examination of
simple bivariate linear relationships to multivariate interactional
models that examine the roles of mediators and moderators of
these relationships (Collins, 1996; Lopez, Mitchell, & Gormley,
2002; Roberts et al., 1996; Wei, Heppner, & Mallinckrodt, 2003).
One example of this new emphasis on multivariate models is
recent research that has examined the relationships among attachment, perfectionism, and adjustment (Rice & Mirzadeh, 2000).
Perfectionism has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, with both adaptive and maladaptive aspects (Flett & Hewitt,
2002). Adaptive perfectionism involves setting high (but achievable) personal standards, a preference for order and organization,
a sense of self-satisfaction, a desire to excel, and a motivation to
Throughout the past decade, there has been a growing interest
among counseling psychologists in applying Bowlby’s (1973,
1980, 1988) attachment theory to understanding adult development
and the counseling process (Lopez, 1995; Lopez & Brennan, 2000;
Mallinckrodt, 2000). The initial formulations of adult attachment
posited four qualitative categories of attachment based on combinations of positive and negative working models of self and others
(e.g., Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). However, research has
failed to confirm the existence of qualitative cutoff points, and
instead supports two continuous dimensions as the best way to
model adult attachment (Fraley & Waller, 1998). In a factor
analysis of data gathered from over 1,000 undergraduates, Brennan, Clark, and Shaver (1998) included all of the extant self-report
measures of adult attachment (14 measures, 60 subscales, 323
items) and identified two relatively orthogonal dimensions of
Anxiety and Avoidance. Adult attachment anxiety is characterized
as an excessive need for approval from others and fear of interpersonal rejection or abandonment. Adult attachment avoidance
involves an excessive need for self-reliance and fear of interpersonal closeness or dependence. People with high levels of either
dimension or both dimensions in combination are assumed to have
Meifen Wei and W. Todd Abraham, Department of Psychology, Iowa
State University; Brent Mallinckrodt, Department of Educational, School,
and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri–Columbia; Daniel W.
Russell, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa
State University.
We thank Robyn Zakalik, Shanna Behrendsen, Anne Giusto, and Mike
McGregor for their assistance with data collection.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Meifen
Wei, Department of Psychology, W112 Lagomarcino Hall, Iowa State
University, Ames, IA 50011-3180. E-mail: wei@iastate.edu
201
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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
202
WEI, MALLINCKRODT, RUSSELL, AND ABRAHAM
achieve positive rewards. Maladaptive perfectionism involves unrealistically high standards, intense ruminative concern over mistakes, perceived pressure from others to be perfect, a perceived
large discrepancy between one’s performance and personal standards, compulsive doubting of one’s actions, and motivation to
avoid negative consequences (Enns & Cox, 2002).
Theorists suggest that maladaptive perfectionism results when a
child’s need for acceptance and love from parents is accompanied
by a parent’s failure to provide the needed acceptance and positive
regard (Hamachek, 1978). Observational research has shown that
if caregivers are inconsistent and unreliable in responding to the
emotional or physical needs of young children, anxious attachment
is frequently the result (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978).
Serious interpersonal problems may develop in adults whose parents used a love withdrawal style of discipline involving threats to
withhold affection as a means of control (Mallinckrodt & Wei,
2003). Children with attachment anxiety may quickly learn that if
they are “perfect” boys or girls, they may be more likely to gain
their parents’ love and acceptance. This pattern of striving for
perfection as a way to earn acceptance that was only intermittently
available in childhood may persist as a maladaptive pattern in
adults.
A different dynamic may underlie the connection between perfectionism and attachment avoidance. Attachment avoidance is
believed to involve a negative working model of others along with
a positive working model of self (Bartholomew & Horowitz,
1991). However, striving to be “perfect” in the view of others may
be an outward defense that masks a deeply wounded inner sense of
self resulting from the inadequate emotional responsiveness of
caregivers early in development (Lapan & Patton, 1986; Robbins
& Patton, 1985). Children with avoidant attachment tend to describe themselves as perfect (Cassidy & Kobak, 1988), but they
may drive themselves to attain perfection to avoid others’ rejection
and to manage their own hidden sense of imperfections. For
example, a child may think, “If I am perfect, no one will hurt me”
(Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & Macdonald, 2002). Thus, initially striving
to be perfect may be a positive coping mechanism for children
whose caregivers are unresponsive or inconsistent in their responsiveness to the child’s needs. However, if striving to be perfect is
overused as a coping strategy, it may lead to depressive mood in
adulthood. Therefore, the specific form that the maladaptive striving for perfection may take might depend on the particular mixture
of attachment avoidance or attachment anxiety experienced in
adulthood.
Although several theorists have suggested that the origins of
perfectionism are related to problematic attachment in the parent–
child relationship, until recently there were very few empirical
studies of perfectionism and attachment. Among the small number
of available studies, Rice and Mirzadeh (2000) reported that maladaptive perfectionism was related to insecure attachment,
whereas adaptive perfectionism was related to secure attachment
in college students. Similarly, Andersson and Perris (2000) found
that perfectionism was positively associated with insecure attachment. Additionally, Flett et al. (2001) found that persons with high
attachment anxiety and avoidance reported higher perceived pressure from others to be perfect. Thus, previous studies have provided tentative evidence that attachment avoidance and attachment
anxiety are positively associated with maladaptive perfectionism.
Several studies have shown that perfectionism is positively
associated with depression or hopelessness. For example, perfectionism in college students was associated with greater depressive
symptoms (e.g., Chang, 2002; Chang & Sanna, 2001; Cheng,
2001; Hewitt & Flett, 1991) and suicidal preoccupation (Adkins &
Parker, 1996; Chang, 1998). In longitudinal studies, perfectionism
has been linked to both depression and hopelessness over time
(Chang & Rand, 2000; Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, & Mosher, 1995).
Also, Hewitt and Flett (2002) reported that perceived pressure
from others to be perfect was associated with hopelessness across
different studies and populations (e.g., Chang & Rand, 2000;
Dean, Range, & Goggin, 1996). On the basis of these previous
studies, in the present study we chose to represent the latent
variable of depressive mood with indicators of depression and
hopelessness.
It is possible that adults with high attachment anxiety or avoidance are likely to develop maladaptive perfectionism and, in turn,
experience significant depressive mood. Some studies have examined how maladaptive perfectionism might serve as a mediator
between parent– child interactions and depressive mood. Randolph
and Dykman (1998) found that perfectionism fully mediated the
relationship between critical parenting and depression-proneness
and partially mediated the relationship between perfectionistic
parenting and depression-proneness in undergraduate students.
Enns, Cox, and Clara (2002) reported that maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between harsh parenting (e.g., critical parenting, parental overprotection, and parental lack of care)
and depression. However, our search of the literature could not
locate any previous study that examined perfectionism as a mediator between attachment and depressive mood. If maladaptive
perfectionism does serve as a mediator, interventions could be
targeted at adults with attachment anxiety or avoidance to help
decrease their maladaptive perfectionism and in turn decrease their
depressive mood.
Hewitt and Flett (2002) argued that perfectionism could serve as
a moderator (as well as a mediator) between insecure attachment
and depressive mood. Several studies have found that specific
dimensions of perfectionism (e.g., pressure from others to be
perfect) interacted with general stress (e.g., major life stress or
self-appraisal stress) to predict increased depression symptoms or
negative affect (e.g., Chang & Rand, 2000; Cheng, 2001; Dunkley,
Zuroff, & Blankstein, 2003; Flett et al., 1995). That is, greater
depression or negative affect was reported by participants with
higher combined levels of perfectionism and perceived stress. In
addition, other studies reported that specific dimensions of perfectionism interacted with specific stressors to predict higher levels of
depression. Hewitt and Flett (1993) found that perfectionism,
particularly in the form of perceived pressure from others to be
perfect, interacted with interpersonal stressors (e.g., relationship
problems or lack of intimacy) to predict depression. It appears that
maladaptive perfectionism could serve as a potential moderator of
the relationship between general or specific stressors and psychological distress.
Attachment anxiety or attachment avoidance could be viewed as
a source of chronic interpersonal stress. Perfectionism may lead to
depressive mood because it generates core interpersonal needs that
are difficult to satisfy (i.e., the need for others’ approval, or the
need to be perfect to avoid others’ rejection). Maladaptive perfectionism might interact with attachment anxiety or attachment
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PERFECTIONISM AND ATTACHMENT
avoidance to worsen depressive mood (Hewitt & Flett, 2002).
From the standpoint of putative causal links, in a mediating scenario attachment insecurity (x1) is believed to cause higher levels
of maladaptive perfectionism (x2), which in turn causes higher
levels of depressive mood (y). If the mediation is partial rather than
complete, there would also be a significant direct link between (x1)
attachment insecurity and (y) depressive mood (Baron & Kenny,
1986; Holmbeck, 1997). By contrast, in a moderating scenario
there is no requirement that x1 causes x2 and, in fact, the two
variables may be uncorrelated. However, the strength of association between x1 (in this case, attachment insecurity) and y (depressive mood) is believed to vary for differing levels of x2 (maladaptive perfectionism). Unfortunately, there has been no empirical
research studying how maladaptive perfectionism might interact
with attachment to predict depressive mood.
Because it is possible for maladaptive perfectionism to serve as
both an intermediate link in the causal chain leading from attachment insecurity to depressive mood (i.e., as a mediator) and as a
203
variable that alters the strength of association between attachment
insecurity and depressive mood (i.e., as a moderator), both types of
relationships were explored in this study. Specifically, the purpose
of the present study was to examine whether the maladaptive
aspects of perfectionism (e.g., concern over mistakes, doubts about
actions, and perceived discrepancy between one’s standards and
performance) serve as a mediator, as a moderator, or as both in the
context of the relationship between adult attachment insecurity
(anxiety and avoidance) and depressive mood (depression and
hopelessness). Figures 1A and 1B depict both of these hypothesized relationships. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used
to test the models depicted in this figure. Slaney, Rice, Mobley,
Trippi, and Ashby (2001) argued that the discrepancy between
high standards and perceptions of performance was a defining
feature of maladaptive perfectionism, whereas high standards
without perceived discrepancy could indicate adaptive perfectionism. Therefore, measures of discrepancy between standards and
performance, concern over mistakes, and doubts about one’s ac-
Figure 1. Hypothesized mediating effects (A) and moderating effects (B) of maladaptive perfectionism on the
links between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance with depressive mood. The moderating effects (B)
of maladaptive perfectionism on the links between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance with depressive
mood were examined separately.
WEI, MALLINCKRODT, RUSSELL, AND ABRAHAM
204
tions served as the indicators for the construct of maladaptive
perfectionism, in addition to measures of depression and hopelessness, which served as indicators of the latent variable depressive
mood.1
Method
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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Participants
Participants were 310 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory
psychology classes at a large midwestern university. The participants were
told that the purpose of the research was “to learn about factors affecting
college students’ adjustment.” The sample included 225 (73%) women and
85 (27%) men. Their mean age was 19.27 years (SD ⫽ 1.88, range ⫽
18 –30 yrs.). Approximately 53% of the participants were freshmen. Ethnic
identification was predominantly White/Caucasian (84%), followed by
international students of various ethnicities (4.8%), Asian American
(4.2%), African American (2.3%), Hispanic American (2.3%), multiracial
American (1.0%), and others (1.3%). Most participants (98.0%) indicated
they were single or never married. Students received partial credit toward
their course grade for participating in this study. The amount of credit
varied depending on their particular section of the course.
Instruments
Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECRS; Brennan et al., 1998).
The ECRS is a 36-item self-report measure of adult attachment containing
two 18-item subscales derived from the factor analysis by Brennan et al.
(1998) described previously. The subscales assess dimensions of adult
attachment, Anxiety and Avoidance. Participants use a 7-point Likert-type
scale (1 ⫽ disagree strongly, 7 ⫽ agree strongly) to rate how well each
statement describes their typical feelings in romantic relationships. The
Anxiety subscale taps fears of abandonment and rejection. The Avoidance
subscale assesses discomfort with dependence and intimate self-disclosure.
Brennan et al.’s reported coefficient alpha was .91 and .94 for the Anxiety
and Avoidance subscales, respectively. In the present study, coefficient
alpha was .90 for the Anxiety subscale and .91 for the Avoidance subscale.
Brennan et al. also reported that scale scores were correlated in expected
directions with scores on self-report measures of touch aversion and
postcoital emotions. Measured indicators for the two latent variables of
attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were created from three
6-item parcels for each subscale. Following the recommendation of Russell, Kahn, Spoth, and Altmaier (1998), exploratory factor analyses were
conducted using maximum-likelihood extraction for the two factors (Anxiety and Avoidance) separately. The items were then rank-ordered on the
basis of the magnitude of the factor loadings and successively assigned
pairs of the highest and lowest items to each parcel to equalize the average
loadings of each parcel on its respective factor.
Almost Perfect Scale–Revised (APS-R; Slaney et al., 2001). The
APS-R is a 23-item self-report measure designed to assess levels of
perfectionism. Respondents use a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 ⫽ strongly
disagree, 7 ⫽ strongly agree) in responding to the items. The APS-R is
made up of three subscales: High Standards, Order, and Discrepancy. In
this study only the 12-item Discrepancy subscale was used. This subscale
measures the degree to which respondents perceive themselves as failing to
meet personal standards for performance. Slaney et al. reported a coefficient alpha of .92 for the Discrepancy subscale, whereas coefficient alpha
was .94 in the present sample. Slaney et al. reported evidence of construct
validity in the form of significant correlations between the Discrepancy
subscale and oth …
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