Hopelessness, stress, and perfectionism: The moderating effects of future thinking

It has been argued that a negative view of the future characterised by impaired positive future thinking is associated with increased hopelessness and suicide risk (e.g., MacLeod & Moore, 2000). Hence, the central focus of the two studies reported in this paper was to extend our knowledge of positive future thinking by investigating its relationship with established suicide risk factors: stress, perfectionism, and hopelessness. Study 1 demonstrates, for the first time, that positive future thinking moderates the relationship between stress and hopelessness. The findings of Study 2 replicated those found in Study 1 and they also supported the notion that perfectionism is best understood as a multidimensional construct and that its relationship with future thinking and hopelessness is not straightforward. The results are also discussed in terms of the relationship between the structure of affect and motivational systems.