The relation between perfectionism and distress: Hassles, coping, and perceived social support as mediators and moderators

This study of university students (136 men and 307 women) examined the role s of hassles, avoidant and active coping, and perceived available social su pport in the relation between evaluative concerns and personal standards pe rfectionism and distress symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement model used in this study. Struct ural equation modeling results indicated that hassles, avoidant coping, and perceived social support are each unique mediators that can fully explain the strong relation between evaluative concerns perfectionism and distress. Personal standards perfectionism had a unique association with active copi ng only. Hassles and social support also moderated the relation between bot h dimensions of perfectionism and distress. Clinical implications of distin guishing between evaluative concerns and personal standards perfectionism a re discussed.