The good, the bad, and the interactive: Evaluative concerns perfectionism moderates the effect of personal strivings perfectionism on self-esteem

Early conceptualizations of perfectionism regard it as a unidimensional and maladaptive construct. However, multiple recent studies have proposed a two-factor model of perfectionism that distinguishes between adaptive and maladaptive features of perfectionism. The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction of these two factors of perfectionism on self-esteem, by partially incorporating the recently proposed 2 × 2 model of perfectionism. This objective was examined in a sample of 290 female college students. Findings showed that personal strivings perfectionism1 (PSP) was positively associated with self-esteem, while evaluative concerns perfectionism2 (ECP) was negatively related to self-esteem. Moreover, results demonstrated that the interaction of PSP and ECP accounted for a small but significant amount of the variance in self-esteem. Overall, these findings indicate that ECP moderates the relationship between PSP and self-esteem, such that as levels of ECP increase, the relationship between PSP and self-esteem decreases. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.