Incremental Validity of Perfectionism Cognitions Beyond Trait Perfectionism for Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Over the last decade meta-analyses have provided convincing evidence that perfectionism is a risk factor for mental ill-heath. Following a review of this work, there has been recent calls to apply meta-analytic techniques to more complex questions including those that relate to incremental predictive ability. Couched within the CMPB, this meta-analysis responds to those calls by providing a novel test of whether perfectionism cognitions (ruminative thoughts focused on themes of perfection) predict mental health (symptoms of depression and anxiety) beyond trait perfectionism (self-oriented, socially prescribed and other-oriented perfectionism). The study serves as both a test of the CMPB and of the conceptual and practical value of perfectionism cognitions in research and applied practice.