Self-Concealment as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Perfectionism and Psychological Distress

The relationship between perfectionism and engagement in preventive health behaviours: The mediating role of self-concealment

“…Self-concealment may be particularly detrimental to health because of the additional effort required in actively withholding sensitive and potentially embarrassing information from others (Kahn and Hessling, 2001). A secondary problem may be that it prevents the development of more adaptive coping strategies such as utilising social support (Kawamura and Frost, 2004).…”

“…Self-concealment may be particularly detrimental to health because of the additional effort required in actively withholding sensitive and potentially embarrassing information from others (Kahn and Hessling, 2001). A secondary problem may be that it prevents the development of more adaptive coping strategies such as utilising social support (Kawamura and Frost, 2004).Research has identified a direct relationship between perfectionism and physical health (Hadjistavropoulos et al, 2007;Molnar., 2006) and extreme forms of perfectionism have been related to a wide variety of negative health outcomes (both physical and psychological) including; anxiety (Antony et al, 1998; Flett et al, 1989), substance abuse (Pacht, 1984), chronic pain (Liebman, 1978), coronary heart disease (Pacht, 1984), depression (Blatt, 1995; Chang, 2000; Enns and Cox, 1999; Frost et al, 1990; Frost et al, 1993;Hewitt and Flett, 1991b;Kawamura et al, 2001;Pacht, 1984), eating disorders (Fairburn et al, 1999;Pacht, 1984), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Antony et al, 1998;Pacht, 1984), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Deary and Chalder, 2010), increased fatigue following a period of stress (Dittner et al, 2010), greater sickness impact in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (Flett et al, 2011), increased risk of mortality in diabetic older adults (Fry and Debats, 2011), suicide (Burns, 1980;Hewitt et al, 1992) with perfectionism) to be "enabling", having a protective function in terms of health and wellbeing and perfectionism and neuroticism to be "disabling", resulting in a more detrimental effect on health. Additionally, high levels of self-oriented perfectionism (considered to represent the more adaptive perfectionism traits) have been found to be health promoting and linked to a reduced risk of mortality (Fry and Debats, 2011).…”

“…Identifying the types and frequencies of such behaviours and the accompanying associations with type of perfectionism (adaptive/maladaptive) may help us understand why some perfectionists stay healthy and others do not. It is hypothesised that higher levels of maladaptive perfectionism will be associated with lower engagement and conversely higher levels of adaptive perfectionism will be related to greater engagement in preventive health behaviours (hypothesis 1).Previous research has identified self-concealment as a mediator in the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress (Kawamura and Frost, 2004). The present study seeks to provide evidence for the relationship between perfectionism (adaptive and maladaptive) and self-concealment, as well as, self-concealment and engagement in preventive health behaviours (hypothesis 2).…”

Trying to Be Perfect in an Imperfect World: Examining the Role of Perfectionism in the Context of Chronic Illness

“…For example, Kawamura and Frost (2004) found an indirect link between PC and experiencing greater psychological distress via higher levels of self-concealment. Relevant for the proposed links between perfectionism and key health outcomes suggested by the SCCAMPI, Williams and Cropley (2014) found that self-concealment mediated the associations of PC with psychological distress and with less engagement in preventive health behaviors.…”

Mediators between perfectionism and eating disorder psychopathology: Shape and weight overvaluation and conditional goal‐setting

“…3 This is despite a recent spate of studies that have investigated mediators of perfectionism and psychopathology more generally. [13][14][15][16] These studies and known exceptions from the ED literature 7,8,12,17 suggest that perfectionism activates unhelpful cognitive and behavioral modes of functioning. A second issue concerns the relation between SOP, SPP, and ED psychopathology in ED populations.…”