How Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism Relate to Positive and Negative Psychological Functioning: Testing a Stress-Mediation Model in Black and White Female College Students.
This study assessed racial variations in how adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism relate to psychological functioning in a sample of 150 Black and 150 White female college students. Comparative results indicated that Black women, as compared with White women, reported less adaptive perfectionism, less life satisfaction, greater stress, and greater negative affect. Correlational results indicated that for both groups, maladaptive perfectionism, but not adaptive perfectionism, was associated with stress. Accordingly, a model in which stress mediates the link between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological functioning was tested. Overall, path-analytic results indicated that stress completely or partially mediated the link between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological functioning for both Black and White women. Potential implications of the present findings for counseling Black and White women are discussed.