The Influences of Maladaptive Perfectionism on Career Anxiety: The Double Mediating Effects of Generalized Anxiety and Conflict Experience with a Professor of Graduate Students

Objectives The purpose of this study was to confirm the dual mediating effects of generalized anxiety and faculty conflict on the impact of maladaptive perfectionism on graduate students' career anxiety. Methods For this study, data were collected from 354 graduate students in Seoul, Korea, and SPSS Statistics 26.0 program and SPSS PROCESS (v.4.3) macro were used to conduct correlation analysis to analyze the relationship between key variables and the dual mediating effects of generalized anxiety and faculty conflict on maladaptive perfectionism and career anxiety. Results First, graduate students' maladaptive perfectionism, generalized anxiety, and conflict experience with a professor showed a positive correlation with career anxiety. Second, in the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and career anxiety, generalized anxiety showed a simple mediating effect. Third, generalized anxiety and conflict experience with a professor sequentially double mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and career anxiety. Conclusions The findings are significant in that they provide implications for counseling interventions in the process of maladaptive perfectionism's transition to career anxiety in graduate student research. Finally, the current study's implications for future graduate student research are discussed, along with limitations and implications for clinical practice.