Perfectionism Dimensions and Longitudinal Depressive Symptom Profiles in Adolescents: Distinguishing Evaluative Self-Criticism from Personal Standards.

Abstract

Perfectionism is multidimensional, yet it remains unclear whether evaluative self-criticism and high personal standards differentially identify adolescents with unfavorable depressive symptom profiles. Using data from a baseline sample of 1150 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years and six monthly follow-up assessments, a three-class quadratic growth mixture model identified low-stable, high-decreasing, and increasing/high-escalating profiles among 1129 trajectory-eligible participants. Three-Step Approach(R3STEP) models entered self-critical perfectionism, personal standards perfectionism, age, sex, rural/urban source, and highest parental education simultaneously; a sensitivity model additionally included baseline depressive symptoms. Self-critical perfectionism was associated with both non-low-stable profiles and remained significant after baseline symptom adjustment, although estimates were attenuated. Personal standards perfectionism showed no consistent association. Direct coefficient contrasts indicated stronger self-critical than personal-standards effects for both non-low-stable profiles in the primary model, but these between-predictor differences were no longer significant after baseline Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) adjustment. A targeted sensitivity analysis excluding parental education as a covariate yielded the same substantive pattern for self-critical perfectionism. The findings provide a person-centered extension of multidimensional perfectionism-depression research while also indicating that the two Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale(DPSCA) subscales showed only modest internal consistency and imperfect absolute factorial fit in this sample.