scholarly journals A test of perfectionistic vulnerability following competitive failure among college athletes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Curran ◽  
Andrew P. Hill
Keyword(s):  
College Athletes ◽  
Cycle Ergometer ◽  
Interpersonal Stress ◽  
Socially Prescribed Perfectionism ◽  
Shame And Guilt ◽  
Specific Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability Hypothesis

Perfectionism purportedly bestows vulnerability to distress via an interaction with achievement and interpersonal stress. We test this by assessing athletes’ perfectionism and subsequent self-conscious emotion following repeated competitive failure. Sixty college athletes undertook three 4-minute competitive sprint trials on a cycle ergometer and were instructed that they had performed the worst of all competitors on each occasion. Measures of perfectionism (self-oriented and socially prescribed) were taken at baseline and measures of pride, guilt, and shame were taken at baseline and three times following each successive failure. Across the successive failures, self-oriented perfectionism predicted within-person trajectories of decreasing pride and increasing guilt. Socially prescribed perfectionism predicted within-person trajectories of increasing shame and guilt. Furthermore, a combination of high self-oriented and high socially prescribed perfectionism predicted the steepest within-person increases in shame and guilt. Findings support an achievement specific vulnerability hypothesis whereby those higher in perfectionism experience pronounced distress following competitive failure.

The Role of Perfectionism and Autobiographical Memory in a Sample of Parasuicide Patients

Crisis ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Rasmussen ◽  
Rory C. O’Connor ◽  
Dallas Brodie
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Socially Prescribed Perfectionism ◽  
Hopelessness Depression ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
First Time

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between social perfectionism, overgeneral autobiographical memory recall, and psychological distress (hopelessness, depression/anxiety, and suicidal ideation) in a sample of parasuicide patients. Forty patients who had been admitted to a Scottish hospital following an episode of deliberate self-harm participated in the study. The participants completed the autobiographical memory task and a battery of self-report measures (multidimensional perfectionism, hopelessness, depression/anxiety, and suicidal ideation). The results showed that repetitive self-harmers were more overgeneral in their recall of positive autobiographical memories than were first-time self-harmers. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that socially prescribed perfectionism interacted with overgeneral recall of both positive and negative memories to predict suicidal ideation/depression. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research.

Interpersonal Stress and Poor Health

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette M. Aanes ◽  
Maurice B. Mittelmark ◽  
Jørn Hetland
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Somatic Symptoms ◽  
Total Effect ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Interpersonal Stress ◽  
The Relationship

This paper investigated whether the lack of social connectedness, as measured by the subjective feeling of loneliness, mediates the well-known relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. Furthermore, a relationship between interpersonal stress and somatic symptoms was hypothesized. The study sample included 3,268 women and 3,220 men in Western Norway. The main findings were that interpersonal stress was significantly related to psychological distress as well as to somatic symptoms, both directly and indirectly via paths mediated by loneliness. The size of the indirect effects varied, suggesting that the importance of loneliness as a possible mediator differs for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and somatic symptoms. In the case of depressive symptoms, more than 75% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness, while in the case of somatic symptoms just over 40% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness. This study supports the hypotheses that social connectedness mediates a relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. The study also provides the first link between interpersonal stress, as measured by the Bergen Social Relationships Scale, and somatic symptoms, extending earlier research on the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress.

Infrahumanizing Praise

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 187-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark H. White ◽  
Ludwin E. Molina
Keyword(s):  
College Athletes ◽  
Black Athletes ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind

Abstract. Five studies demonstrate that athletic praise can ironically lead to infrahumanization. College athletes were seen as less agentic than college debaters (Studies 1 and 2). College athletes praised for their bodies were also seen as less agentic than college athletes praised for their minds (Study 3), and this effect was driven by bodily admiration (Study 4). These effects occurred equally for White and Black athletes (Study 1) and did not depend on dualistic beliefs about the mind and body (Study 2), failing to provide support for assumptions in the literature. Participants perceived mind and body descriptions of both athletes and debaters as equally high in praise (Study 5), demonstrating that infrahumanization may be induced even if descriptions of targets are positively valenced. Additionally, decreased perceptions of agency led to decreased support for college athletes’ rights (Study 3).

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