Parental criticism, self-criticism and their relation to depressive mood: an exploratory study among a non-clinical population

Abstract

Internalized self-criticism (ISC) has been identified as one dimension of depression and has been related to poor interpersonal functioning, severity of depressive symptoms among patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, and suicidal behaviors. Finally, it has been indicated as a maintaining factor in depression, able to impair the efficacy of psychological treatment. The present study aimed to investigate the role of perceived parental criticism, perfectionistic concern over mistakes and ruminative brooding in predicting internalized self-criticism; in addition, we explored the predictive value of all the considered variables for depressive mood in a nonclinical population. The final model showed a complete mediation for concern over mistakes and ruminative brooding in the relationship between perceived parental criticism and ISC, with the final model explaining 32% of the variance. Moreover, ISC predicted the level of depressive symptoms over and above the contribution of the other variables considered. The findings suggest that a thinking style characterized by ruminative brooding and the tendency to be concerned with mistakes can facilitate the development of a self-critical person, more than a parental style perceived as critical. Moreover, the tendency to be self-critical may be more predictive of depressive symptoms than the other variables considered.

A metacognitive model of self-esteem

“…Recent research, however, has started to explore the role that the process of rumination plays in maintaining levels of self-critical thinking (Kolubinski, Nikčević, Lawrence, & Spada, 2016;Manfredi et al, 2016;Smart, Peters, & Baer, 2016). Rumination is the process of perseveratively thinking about one"s emotions or problems without actively problemsolving or changing the circumstances for the better (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, &…”

Comparison of Self-Criticism in Obsessive-Compulsive, Major Depression Patients and Normal People

“…People with comparative self-criticism have less cooperation and compromise, and avoid more. Internal self-criticism is associated with avoiding management of conflict but also associated with adaptive management of conflict (9). High self-criticism can be explained based on the ultimate standardization theory (33).…”

“…Therefore, comparative self-criticism often correlated with intra-personal hostility and low levels of personality factors of agreeableness and extroversion (8). Also, this kind of criticism requires a general feeling of humiliation and a feeling of inability to overcoming difficulties of life; thus, such a person takes an avoidance way when confronting with problems (9). Internalized self-criticism is defined as a negative attitude due to comparing oneself with personal and internal standards.…”

Effectiveness of NoiBene: A Web‐based programme to promote psychological well‐being and prevent psychological distress in university students

“…We assessed perfectionism using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Frost et al, 1990; Italian validation by Lombardo, 2008), a 35-item self-reported questionnaire widely used in research and clinical settings to evaluate perfectionism. To assess self-criticism, we used the Level of Self-Criticism (LOSC; Thompson & Zuroff, 2004; Italian validation by Manfredi et al, 2016), a self-reported questionnaire designed to measure two dysfunctional forms of self-criticism: comparative self-criticism (CSC) (i.e. negative view of the self compared with others) and internalized selfcriticism (ISC) (i.e.…”