Perfectionism, Ego Defense Styles, and Depression: A Comparison of Self‐Reports Versus Informant Ratings

Abstract

The present study examined the associations among perfectionism, defense styles, and depression in an Israeli community sample of young adults. This study involved a comparison of self-reports and informant ratings on all measures. A community sample of 210 pairs of same-sex best friends from Israel completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Defense Styles Questionnaire - 40, and a depression measure. Analyses confirmed that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with depression, not only in terms of self-reports but also in terms of informant ratings. In addition, informant ratings revealed a link between other-oriented perfectionism and depression. Both self-reports and informant ratings also indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with immature defense styles and neurotic defense styles. Further simultaneous Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses of self-reports and informant ratings showed that maladaptive defense styles mediate the link between socially prescribed perfectionism and depression. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The Relationship Between Positive and Negative Perfectionism and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Academic Rumination

“…Multiple mediators have been used to investigate the relationship between perfectionism and depression. Research results support the mediating roles of selfcriticism, self-esteem, maladaptive defense styles, and maladaptive coping styles in the relationship between perfectionism and depressive symptoms (10)(11)(12)(13). In recent years, there has been a growing attention in testing the role of rumination as a mediator of this relationship.…”

Measures of Perfectionism

“…Evidence of concordance was also obtained in a study by Vieth and Trull (1999) using a larger sample of university students and their parents. Flett, Besser, and Hewitt (2005) examined the correspondence between self-reports on the HFMPS and informant reports in 220 pairs of participants (i.e., young adults and their friends). As was the case in the study, concordance was greatest for socially prescribed perfectionism and lowest for self-oriented perfectionism (correlations ranging from .27 to .40).…”

Convergence of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Friendship Dyads

“…However, there are some notable exceptions. For example, Flett, Besser, & Hewitt (2005) found a correlation of .35 between young adult target and same-sex best friend informant reports of targets’ depressive symptoms and their scores were not significantly different from one another. Additionally, using measures of depression and social anxiety, correlations between young adult target and friend or roommate informant reports of targets’ symptoms were .37 and .39, respectively (Okazaki, 2002).…”

“…Based on the limited previous findings in the depression/anxiety literature (Flett et al, 2005; Okazaki, 2002) and more thorough findings from the personality literature (Watson et al, 2000), hypotheses were developed for each of the study aims. First, we expected medium-effect correlations between target-informant ratings for each of the scales.…”