Perfectionism and depressive affect: the pros and cons of being a perfectionist

Recent research indicates that perfectionism may be best viewed as a number of distinct dimensions which are differentially related to depressive affect. The first hypothesis was that an increasing tendency for individuals to procrastinate because they fear making a mistake (i.e. passive perfectionism) would be related to higher levels of depressive affect, while an increasing tendency for individuals to strive for achievement (i.e. active perfectionism) would be unrelated to higher levels of depressive affect. The second hypothesis was that passive perfectionism, but not active perfectionism, would moderate the impact of stressful life events upon depressive affect. Both hypotheses were supported. Moreover, higher levels of organisational perfectionism may actually reduce the levels of depressive affect because higher levels of organisational perfectionism were found to correlate with lower levels of depressive affect. Overall, being a perfectionist may be beneficial as well as detrimental when considering the relationship between perfectionism and depressive affect. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.