The relationship between perfectionism and stress generation: The moderating roles of looming cognitive style and self-compassion

The stress generation hypothesis suggests that individuals significantly contribute to the generation of negative life events in their own lives, which plays a crucial role in the development, maintenance, and recurrence of psychological disorders, including depression. University students in particular are exposed to a range of negative life events stemming from individual and situational factors during their transition to university life as emerging adults. Previous research indicated that maladaptive personality traits such as perfectionism might play a role in the stress generation process through inherent maladaptive traits, behaviors, and cognitions. Previous research also suggested that the relationship between perfectionism and stress generation might be augmented or weakened by other transdiagnostic factors. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the moderating roles of the looming cognitive style (LCS), an anxiety-specific cognitive risk factor, its dimensions (i.e., social and physical looming), and self-compassion, a transdiagnostic protective factor, in the relationship between perfectionism and stress generation using a two-wave longitudinal design. A final study sample of 199 healthy male and female Turkish-speaking undergraduate students aged 18-25 was obtained through convenience sampling. During both phases of the study, participants completed an online questionnaire that measured their level of perfectionism, LCS, self-compassion, and negative life events. The results showed that only LCS and social looming significantly moderated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and interpersonal, negative life events at time 2. One of the main theoretical and clinical implications of these research findings is the importance of focusing on multi-risk factor models in examining, intervening, or preventing stress generation.