Perfectionism as a vulnerability following appearance-focussed social comparison: a multi-wave study with female adolescents

Etherson, M. E. , Curran, T., Smith, M. M., Sherry, S. B. and Hill, A. P. (2022) Perfectionism as a vulnerability following appearance-focussed social comparison: a multi-wave study with female adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 186, 111355. (doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111355)

Abstract

This study tests whether perfectionism is a vulnerability factor for distress among female adolescents in the context of appearance-focused social comparison and use of social media. We hypothesized that perfectionism predicts greater depressive symptoms and lower body appreciation following appearance-focused upward social comparisons. One-hundred and thirty-five female adolescents (Mage = 14.70 years, SD = 0.46) completed measures of rigid and self-critical perfectionism once, and depressive symptoms, body appreciation, and appearance-focused upward social comparison once a week for four weeks. Self-critical perfectionism positively predicted depressive symptoms and negatively predicted body appreciation. Self-critical perfectionism also interacted with appearance-focused upward social comparisons to predict greater depressive symptoms and lower body appreciation. No effects emerged for rigid perfectionism. Findings suggest self-critical perfectionism may be an important vulnerability factor for female adolescents following appearance-focused social comparison when using social media.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Etherson, Dr Marianne

Creator Roles

Etherson, M.: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Data curation, Visualization

• Authors: Etherson, M. E., Curran, T., Smith, M. M., Sherry, S. B., and Hill, A. P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Journal Name: Personality and Individual Differences
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• ISSN: 0191-8869
• ISSN (Online): 1873-3549
• Published Online: 27 October 2021