Perfectionism and health functioning in women with fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between dimensions of perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism) and health functioning in a sample of 489 women with fibromyalgia. METHODS: Hierarchical multiple regression was used to determine whether dimensions of perfectionism were differentially associated with health functioning among women with fibromyalgia after accounting for broader personality traits related to both perfectionism and health functioning. RESULTS: The results confirmed that both socially prescribed perfectionism and self-oriented perfectionism were associated with lower health functioning. Moreover, these associations were found after accounting for the effects of conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism. The findings involving self-oriented perfectionism were particularly complex and suggested that moderate self-oriented perfectionism may be somewhat adaptive, but too much or too little self-oriented perfectionism is associated with substantial reductions in health functioning among women with fibromyalgia. CONCLUSION: Collectively, these findings clarify that overall levels of perfectionism are not elevated among women with fibromyalgia, but those women who are exceptionally high in levels of self-oriented perfectionism or high in socially prescribed perfectionism are particularly likely to suffer lower health functioning. These results suggest that perfectionism should be specifically assessed and targeted for intervention among women with fibromyalgia and there should be a particular emphasis on the pressure to meet perceived or actual expectations imposed on the self.

Perfectionism and health: a mediational analysis of the roles of stress, social support and health-related behaviours.

This study tested a model derived from personality theory in which perceived stress, perceived social support, health-risk and health-promotion behaviours mediate the relationship between perfectionism and perceived physical health. A sample of 538 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing multi-dimensional perfectionism, perceived stress, perceived social support, health behaviours, physical health and a scale tapping elements of the five-factor model of personality. Analyses that account for the effects of traits from the five-factor model (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion) indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health and this association was fully mediated by higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of perceived social support. Self-oriented perfectionism was related complexly to health such that it was related to poorer health via higher levels of perceived stress, but was also related to better health via higher levels of perceived social support. Our findings illustrate the need for considering key mediators of the link between perfectionism and poor health outcomes.

A review of the tripartite structure of subjective well-being: implications for conceptualization, operationalization, analysis, and synthesis.

Subjective well-being (SWB) comprises a global evaluation of life satisfaction and positive and negative affective reactions to one's life. Despite the apparent simplicity of this tripartite model, the structure of SWB remains in question. In the present review, the authors identify five prominent structural conceptualizations in which SWB is cast variously as three separate components, a hierarchical construct, a causal system, a composite, and as configurations of components. Supporting evidence for each of these models is reviewed, strengths and weaknesses are evaluated, and commonalities and discrepancies among approaches are described. The authors demonstrate how current ambiguities concerning the tripartite structure of SWB have fundamental implications for conceptualization, measurement, analysis, and synthesis. Given these ambiguities, it is premature to propose a definitive structure of SWB. Rather, the authors outline a research agenda comprising both short-term and longer-term steps toward resolving these foundational, yet largely unaddressed, issues concerning SWB.

A longitudinal examination of alcohol use and subjective well-being in an undergraduate sample.

OBJECTIVE: Notwithstanding well-established links between alcohol use and adverse alcohol-related consequences, evidence suggests that alcohol use among university students may also be associated with positive outcomes, including components of subjective well-being, which comprises life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Further, because alcohol use and consequences are separable factors, both need to be examined simultaneously to gauge the unique predictive role of alcohol use. We report findings from a longitudinal study of university students that addresses these important issues. METHOD: At the end of their first term at university (Time 1), 627 students (15% of all first-year students) completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire in small group settings. Near the end of their third year (Time 2), 467 of the Time 1 respondents (75% follow-up rate) completed a subsequent survey on-line. The average (SD) longitudinal respondent was 18.83 (0.86) years old at Time 1, and 360 participants were female. RESULTS: In cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models, adverse alcohol-related consequences predicted lower subjective well-being (lower life satisfaction, less frequent positive affect, more frequent negative affect). Independent of this effect, greater alcohol use (greater quantity/frequency, more frequent intoxication, heavy episodic drinking) predicted higher subjective well-being, both concurrently and prospectively. CONCLUSIONS: Among these university students, alcohol use was uniquely associated with a more positive sense of well-being. A more comprehensive understanding of the significance of alcohol use among university students requires attending to positive and negative outcomes associated with alcohol use and examining alcohol use and consequences as related but separable factors.

Functional or fantasy? Examining the implications of subjective temporal perspective "trajectories" for life satisfaction.

In a 5-year longitudinal study of young community adults, the authors examined subjective temporal perspective (STP) "trajectories" derived from ratings of past, present, and anticipated future life satisfaction (LS) collected at two time points. Upward STP trajectories (past < present < future LS) were normative at both time points. Opposing hypotheses were derived from the literature concerning the potential positive versus negative implications of upward STP trajectories. Using latent trajectory modeling, individual differences in STP trajectories were examined in relation to mental, physical, and interpersonal functioning as well as future satisfaction bias (over- vs. underestimation of future LS). Steeper upward STP trajectories were associated with less positive functioning, both concurrently and prospectively, as well as greater future satisfaction bias. Therefore, rather than representing a realistic, adaptive form of self-enhancement, steep upward STP trajectories for LS appeared to be a form of fantasizing and wishful thinking, associated with distress, dissatisfaction, and dysfunction.