Perfectionism, personality, parenting criticism and the unemployed

Few studies have examined the role of perfectionism in the unemployed though extensive studies on perfectionism in the general and student populations exist. Maladaptive perfectionism, or the possession of self-imposed, unrealistic and excessively high standards, has been seen to be related to depression, anxiety and stress, to negative personality characteristics and to critical parenting styles. Would similar relationships be seen among the unemployed? Correlational and regression analyses were used to examine a sample of 100 unemployed adult jobseekers. Results indicated a strong positive correlation between maladaptive perfectionism, psychological distress, personahty factors, and an authoritarian style of parenting. In particular, recollections of maternal parental criticism were found to significantly contribute to both emotional instability and maladaptive perfectionism. In this study unemployed persons exhibited emotional instability and also maladaptive perfectionistic behaviours. Implications for applications are drawn, with emphasis on skills development training that might help the unemployed.