Perfectionism and depression: Longitudinal assessment of a specific vulnerability hypothesis.

The authors tested whether perfectionism dimensions interact with specific stress to predict depression over time. A sample of 103 current and former patients completed measures of perfectionism and depression at Time 1 and measures of stress and depression 4 months later. After controlling Time 1 depression, self-oriented perfectionism interacted only with achievement stress to predict Time 2 depression. Socially prescribed perfectionism did not interact with achievement or social stress to predict Time 2 depression, but it did predict Time 2 depression as a main effect. The results provide support for the contention that perfectionism dimensions are involved in vulnerability to depression over time. Depressive disorders are recognized as among the most prevalent forms of psychopathology, and a goal among researchers is to identify factors that predispose people to these disorders. Most theorists (e.g., Beck, 1983; Blatt & Zuroff, 1992) have distinguished between personality vulnerability factors that involve achievement versus social concerns. Perfectionism is a personality variable of importance in depression, and the achievement and social distinction has been incorporated into the perfectionism construct (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1991b). For instance, Hewitt and Flett (1991b) identified self-oriented perfectionism as an achievement-based dimension that involves the need for one's own perfection. In contrast, other-oriented perfectionism is an interpersonal dimension that involves the need for others to be perfect, and socially prescribed perfectionism is an interpersonal dimension that involves the belief that others expect perfection from oneself. Self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism are the dimensions most relevant to depression (Hewitt & Flett, 199la), and two mechanisms have been proposed to account