When Striving for Success Breeds Distress: Maladaptive Perfectionism Amplifies Changes in Control Discrepancy, Which Significantly Contribute to Heightened Stress and Anxiety

We employed a novel experimental paradigm to examine the temporal dynamics and causal relationship among maladaptive perfectionism, control discrepancy, and anxiety. There were 419 participants (51.865% Male, Mage=25.25). We found that maladaptive perfectionism amplified changes in control discrepancy, which, in turn, significantly contributed to heightened subjective stress and state anxiety.