The Relationship between Perfectionism and Psychological Distress with the Mediation of Coping Styles and Self Esteem
Psychological distress is a common personal challenge among adolescents and younger adults. This challenge often affects them negatively (Alizadehnavani and Hoseini 2013) lead to mental health issues (Ghaderi et al. 2014) Psychological distress, if untreated, can lead to depression and chronic anxiety (Horwitz 2007; Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend 1982) Further, various personality variables such as perfectionism, coping style, and self esteem are suggested to be associated with psychological distress (Sirois et al. 2003) Perfectionism is defined as a tendency to self impose unattainable standards (Burns 1980) It is associated with a critical evaluation of personal performance (Frost et al. 1990) Hewitt and Flett (1991) stated that perfectionism has three dimensions: individual oriented, other oriented and socially prescribed. Individual oriented perfectionists are characterized by having high standards for their own performance, while other oriented perfectionists hold unusual expectations of the community and those around them. Where socially prescribed perfectionists believe that the community has unrealistic expectations of them. The second personality variable that is associated with psychological stress is coping style (Dunkley et al. 2000; Lazarus and Folkman 1984) Coping strategies have been defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral responses seeking to minimize the pressures of stressful situations. Coping styles are classified as 1) problem focused coping styles that is characterized by the initiation of direct actions to reduce stress, 2) avoidanceoriented coping styles that is characterized by simply avoiding exposure to a stress, or 3) emotion focused coping style that is characterized by postponing or removing stress by categorizing situations as stressful or scary (Besharat 2006) Int J Ment Health Addiction (2017) 15:614 620 DOI 10.1007/s11469 016 9689 8
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction