Perfectionism and its relationship with anticipatory processing in social anxiety

Figures & data

Table 1. Intercorrelations, means, standard deviations, and Cronbach's α for measures of social anxiety, depression, maladaptive perfectionism, and anticipatory processing (N = 240)

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	M	SD	α
1. LSAS‐SR social anxiety	–	.51**	.45**	.59**	.48**	−.10	−.02	43.02	20.98	.95
2. DASS Depression		–	.52**	.42**	.31**	−.09	.00	9.14	9.21	.91
3. FMPS—Maladaptive perfectionism			–	.48**	.38**	−.04	.05	41.64	12.86	.92
4. MMAP‐stagnant deliberation				–	.59**	−.21**	.08	25.05	7.66	.92
5. MMAP‐outcome fantasy					–	−.07	.05	11.21	4.44	.88
6. MMAP‐plan rehearsal						–	.57**	20.53	4.61	.83
7. MMAP‐problem analysis							–	31.91	7.82	.93

Note. For intercorrelations, LSAS‐SR, DASS depression, FMPS maladaptive perfectionism, and MMAP stagnant deliberation were transformed data, whereas MMAP outcome fantasy, MMAP plan rehearsal, and MMAP problem analysis were non‐transformed data. DASS = Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales; FMPS = Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; LSAS‐SR = Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale‐ Self Report; and MMAP = Measure of Mental Anticipatory Processes. Means, standard deviations, and Cronbach's α were calculated using non‐transformed data.

**p < .001.

Figure 1. Multiple mediation model depicting relations between maladaptive perfectionism, maladaptive anticipatory processing, and social anxiety while controlling for depression. *p = .02, **p < .001, ***p = .222.

Table 2. Summary of hierarchical multiple regression analysis for variables predicting social anxiety (N = 240)

Variable	B	SE B	β	t	p
Step 1
DASS depression	1.31	.22	.37	5.90	<.001
FMPS maladaptive perfectionism	.41	.10	.26**	4.06	<.001
Step 2
DASS depression	.93	.20	.27**	4.56	<.001
FMPS maladaptive perfectionism	.13	.10	.08	1.39	.17
MMAP stagnant deliberation	.75	.14	.36**	5.33	<.001
MMAP outcome fantasy	.06	.02	.16*	2.66	.008
MMAP plan rehearsal	.02	.02	.07	1.06	.290
MMAP problem analysis	−.02	.01	−.09	−1.62	.108

Note. LSAS‐SR social anxiety, DASS depression, FMPS maladaptive perfectionism, and MMAP stagnant deliberation were transformed data. MMAP outcome fantasy, MMAP plan rehearsal, and MMAP problem analysis were non‐transformed data. DASS = Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales; FMPS = Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; LSAS‐SR = Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale‐ Self Report; and MMAP = Measure of Mental Anticipatory Processes. Step 1 adjusted R² = .30, F(2, 237) = 51.68, p < .001, Step 2 adjusted R² = .44. ΔR² = .15, ΔF(4, 233) = 16.53, p < .001.

**p < .001, *p < .01.

Table 3. Summary of the mediation of the effect of maladaptive perfectionism on social anxiety through stagnant deliberation and outcome fantasy while controlling for depression (N = 245)

Mediating variables	Bootstrap indirect effects	SE	Biased corrected and accelerated CI
			95% lower	95% upper
MMAP stagnant deliberation	.25	.06	.15	.38
MMAP outcome fantasy	.07	.07	.02	.14
Total	.31	.07	.20	.47