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A Test of the Usefulness of Perfectionism Theory Across Cultures: Does Perfectionism in the US and Japan Predict Depressive Symptoms Across Time?

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Abstract

The present study examined cultural variations on performance perfectionism (Chang in Cogn Therapy Res 30:677–697, 2006; Cogn Therapy Res 33:334–344, 2009) in 168 European American and 151 Japanese college students. Results of between-groups analyses on performance perfectionism provided support for the general notion of self-enhancement in the West and self-criticism in the East. Moreover, performance perfectionism was found to be associated with concurrent and prospective (2 months later) depressive symptomatology in both cultural groups. Results of regression analyses for both European Americans and Japanese indicated that negative self-oriented performance perfectionism predicted changes in depressive symptomatology at Time 2 even after controlling for initial symptomatology at Time 1. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Faculty Research Grant awarded to Edward C. Chang from the Center of Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. We would like to thank Kiyoshi Asakawa for collecting the Japanese data. The first author would also like to thank Chang Suk-Choon and Tae Myung-Sook for their encouragement and support throughout this project.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Edward C. Chang, Rita Chang & Lawrence J. Sanna

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  1. Edward C. Chang
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Correspondence to Edward C. Chang.

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Chang, E.C., Chang, R. & Sanna, L.J. A Test of the Usefulness of Perfectionism Theory Across Cultures: Does Perfectionism in the US and Japan Predict Depressive Symptoms Across Time?. Cogn Ther Res 36, 1–14 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9376-9

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