The relationship between perfectionism, coping with stress and bodily symptoms

Abstract

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati odnos perfekcionizma, načina suočavanja sa stresom i tjelesnih simptoma studenata. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 359 studenata. Perfekcionizam je ispitan Ljestvicom pozitivnog i negativnog perfekcionizma (Terry-Short i sur, 1995), strategije suočavanja sa stresom ispitane su Upitnikom suočavanja sa stresnim situacijama (Endler i Parker, 1990), dok su tjelesni simptomi ispitani Upitnikom tjelesnih simptoma (Eriksen i sur, 1999). Rezultati hijerarhijske regresijske analize pokazali su da samo negativni perfekcionizam izravno doprinosi tjelesnim simptomima. Kod provjere neizravnog doprinosa negativnog perfekcionizma kriteriju, pokazalo se kako suočavanje usmjereno na emocije ima ulogu medijatora u ovom odnosu. Točnije, visoki negativni perfekcionizam preko visokog suočavanja usmjerenog na emocije doprinosi većem stupnju tjelesnih simptoma. Osim toga, utvrđene su i spolne razlike kod pozitivnog perfekcionizma, gdje se pokazalo da studentice imaju veći pozitivni perfekcionizam u odnosu na studente. Zaključak izveden iz provedenog istraživanja je da negativan perfekcionizam ima izravan doprinos tjelesnim simptomima studenata, da je odnos negativnog perfekcionizma i tjelesnih simptoma posredovan suočavanjem usmjerenim na emocije te da su studentice više od studenata pozitivni perfekcionisti.The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perfectionism, coping with stress and physical symptoms. The study was conducted on a sample of 359 students. Perfectionism was tested with Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (Terry-Short and assoc., 1995), coping skills with Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (Endler i Parker, 1990), while physical symptoms were tested with Subjective Health Complaints (Eriksen and assoc., 1999). The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that only negative perfectionism directly contributes to physical symptoms. When testing the indirect effect of negative perfectionism to somatic symptoms, it was shown that emotion-focused coping strategy has the role of mediator of this relationship. Specifically, the high negative perfectionism through high emotion-focused coping strategy contributes to a greater degree of physical symptoms. Furthermore, the results showed gender differences in positive perfectionism, where female students have greater positive perfectionism than male students. The conclusion of this study is that negative perfectionism has a direct effect on the physical symptoms in students, that the relationship of negative perfectionism and physical symptoms is mediated by emotion-focused coping strategy and that female students are more positive perfectionists than male students