Volume 31, Issue 2 e2966
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Perfectionistic Self-Presentation and Psychopathology: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Silvia Casale

Corresponding Author

Silvia Casale

Department of Health Sciences, Psychology Section, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Correspondence:

Silvia Casale ([email protected])

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Andrea Svicher

Andrea Svicher

Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology (Psychology Section), University of Florence, Florence, Italy

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Giulia Fioravanti

Giulia Fioravanti

Department of Health Sciences, Psychology Section, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

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Paul L. Hewitt

Paul L. Hewitt

Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Gordon L. Flett

Gordon L. Flett

Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Andrea Pozza

Andrea Pozza

Department of Medical Sciences, Surgery and Neurosciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

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First published: 11 April 2024

ABSTRACT

Decades of research implicate perfectionism as a risk factor for psychopathology. Most research has focused on trait perfectionism (i.e., needing to be perfect), but there is a growing focus on perfectionistic self-presentation (PSP) (i.e., the need to seem perfect). The current article reports the results of a meta-analysis of previous research on the facets of PSP and psychopathology outcomes (either clinical diagnoses of psychiatric disorders or symptoms of these disorders). A systematic literature search retrieved 30 relevant studies (37 samples; N = 15,072), resulting in 192 individual effect-size indexes that were analysed with random-effect meta-analysis. Findings support the notion of PSP as a transdiagnostic factor by showing that PSP facets are associated with various forms of psychopathology, especially social anxiety, depression, vulnerable narcissism and—to lesser extent—grandiose narcissism and anorexia nervosa. The results indicated that there both commonalities across the three PSP and some unique findings highlighting the need to distinguish among appearing perfect, avoiding seeming imperfect and avoiding disclosures of imperfections. Additional analyses yielded little evidence in the results across studies including undergraduates, community samples and clinical samples. Our discussion includes a focus on factors and processes that contribute to the association between PSP and psychopathology.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.