The Roles of Anxious Rearing, Negative Affect, and Effortful Control in a Model of Risk for Child Perfectionism

Abstract

Our understanding of perfectionism and its developmental trajectory and impact on children has experienced a recent growth. Research has shown that child perfectionism is associated with a number of negative outcomes including anxiety and depressive disorders, hopelessness, poor psychosocial treatment outcomes, and researchers have not found it to be associated with actual achievement. As such, research has begun to examine the developmental risk factors that predict for its development. The current study proposes utilizing a developmental psychopathology approach, one that purports a complex interaction among internal, external, risk and protective processes in the developmental of perfectionism. Specifically, the study examined whether negative affect, effortful control, and anxious rearing would predict levels of perfectionism in children using path analysis. Effortful control and negative affect were measured using parent-report, anxious rearing was measured by parent-and child-report, and perfectionism was measured through self-report and a behavioral task. It was hypothesized that child-reported anxious rearing and perfectionism measured with a behavioral task would provide the best fitting model and provide at least an adequate fit for the data. Additionally, it was hypothesized that in this model anxious rearing and v negative affect would predict increased levels of child perfectionism, that there would be a significant indirect effect of anxious rearing on the association between negative affect and perfectionism, and that effortful control would interact with negative affect and anxious rearing in the prediction of child perfectionism. Participants were 60 parent-child dyads with children between the ages of 7 and 13 recruited from the community. Overall, results partially supported the hypotheses. The best fitting model used child-reported anxious rearing and behaviorally assessed perfectionism. Within this model, anxious rearing and effortful control significantly predicted for child perfectionism. However, negative affect did not predict child perfectionism. Additionally, there was a significant indirect effect of anxious rearing. Lastly, the interaction between effortful control and anxious rearing and, separately, negative affect did not significantly predict for child perfectionism. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and conceptual implications for the study of child perfectionism and suggestions for future research are presented. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Relationship Between Family Function, Perfectionism and Hidden Anxiety of Students

“…Accordingly, family function and positive and negative perfectionism are correlated. These results are consistent with the results of Mandel et al [22] and Affrunti [23]. To explain this finding, it can be said that behavioral control is the Also, most of the perfectionists are raised in families, in which less-than-perfect performance of the members is responded by overt or implicit critique.…”

Actor–partner interdependence of socially prescribed parenting perfectionism and parental control in Chinese families

“…Hence, they may exercise psychological control to assure their children's obedience. Unfortunately, they may also infuse their anxieties to their children via psychological control (Affrunti & Woodruff‐Borden, 2017). The present findings indicated significant parents' actor and partner effects of socially prescribed parenting perfectionism on psychological control.…”

The Relation of Helicopter Parenting to Maladaptive Perfectionism in Emerging Adults

“…Also, earlier work demonstrates the relation of other parent variables to maladaptive perfectionism. Specifically, parent psychological control has been shown to predict maladaptive perfectionism (Soenens et al, 2008) and parent anxious rearing has been shown to predict child perfectionism (Affrunti & Woodruff-Borden, 2017). Helicopter parenting includes elements of control, similar to psychological control, and may share elements in common with measures of anxious rearing.…”

“…If a parent is anxious about their child's success and afraid to let the child fail, the parent may engage in helicopter parenting behaviors to reduce child mistakes (Nelson, 2010;Segrin et al, 2013). There is evidence that child report of parent worry, specifically worry over child mistakes or failures, is related to higher reported rates of perfectionism (Affrunti & Woodruff-Borden, 2017;Segrin et al, 2019). Anxious parents may intervene more often, and this excessive parental intervention may contribute to a child's self-criticism and perfectionistic strivings.…”