Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jul;36(3):239-45.
doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.135370.

Perfectionism, emotion regulation and their relationship to negative affect in patients with social phobia

Systla Rukmini  1 , Paulomi M Sudhir  1 , Suresh Bada Math  2
Affiliations

Perfectionism, emotion regulation and their relationship to negative affect in patients with social phobia

Systla Rukmini et al. Indian J Psychol Med. 2014 Jul.

Abstract

Context: Research on the perfectionism and emotion regulation strategies in anxiety disorders has gained increased attention. These have an important implication for formulation of therapies.

Aims: We examined perfectionism, emotion regulation were examined in 30 patients with social phobia (SP) and 30 community participants.

Settings and design: A cross-sectional design using a clinical and a community control sample was adopted in this exploratory study.

Materials and methods: Participants were assessed on The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Frost's-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Ruminative Response Scale of the response style questionnaire, cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Beck's Depression Inventory.

Statistical analysis: Data was analyzed using independents samples t-test and Pearson's Product moment correlations and step-wise linear regression.

Results: Individuals with SP had higher perfectionism (mean = 100.30, SD = ±17.73, t = 7.29, P < 0.001), rumination (mean = 61.47, SD = ±11.96, t = 6.71, P < 0.001) and lower levels of positive reappraisal (mean = 11.53, SD = ±3.85, t = 4.90, P < 0.001). Perfectionism was correlated with social anxiety (r = 0.44, P < 0.05) and rumination (r = 0.43, P < 0.05), but not with depression. Rumination was positively correlated with both social anxiety (r = 0.513, P < 0.01) and depression (r = 0.485, P < 0.01). Positive reappraisal was negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.396, P < 0.05) and anxiety (r = -0.335, P < 0.05). Acceptance was found to be significantly correlated only to the reflective pondering subscale of rumination. Parental criticism was a significant predictor of social anxiety (F = 11.11, P < 0.01) and brooding predicted depression (F = 10.49, P < 0.01).

Conclusions: This study highlights the role of perfectionism as a maintaining factor in SP and the importance of adaptive forms of emotion regulation that need to be addressed in psychological interventions.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; perfectionism; rumination; social phobia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. Text Revision. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.[DSM-IV]
    1. Kessler RC, Stang P, Wittchen HU, Stein M, Walters EE. Lifetime co-morbidities between social phobia and mood disorders in the US National Comorbidity Survey. Psychol Med. 1999;29:555–67. - PubMed
    1. Fresco DM, Erwin BA, Heimberg RG, Turk CL. Social and specific phobias. In: Gelder MG, Lopez-Ibor JJ, Andreasen N, editors. New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. UK: Oxford University Press; 2000. pp. 794–807.
    1. Clark DM, Wells A. cognitive model of social phobia. In: Heimberg R, Liebowitz M, Hope DA, Schbeier FR, editors. Social Phobia: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment. New York NY: Guilford Press; 1995. pp. 69–93.
    1. Rapee RM, Heimberg RG. A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia. Behav Res Ther. 1997;35:741–56. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources