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Self-esteem mediates the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression in chronic fatigue syndrome

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Abstract

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) often experience depression which may negatively affect prognosis and treatment outcome. Research has shown that depression in CFS is associated with maladaptive or self-critical perfectionism. However, currently, little is known about factors that may explain this relationship, but studies in nonclinical samples suggest that low self-esteem may be an important mediator of this relationship. The present study therefore examined whether self-esteem mediated the cross-sectional association between maladaptive perfectionism and severity of depression in 192 patients meeting Centres for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for CFS. Patients completed self-report measures of maladaptive perfectionism, self-esteem, depression, and fatigue. Regression analyses and more direct tests of indirect effects (i.e., the Sobel test and bootstrapping) were used to test for mediation. Congruent with expectations, we found that self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression in CFS. Findings from this study suggest that self-esteem may explain the link between maladaptive perfectionism and depression in CFS, which may have important implications for the treatment and prevention of depression in these patients.

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Notes

  1. There was no evidence for multicollinearity between self-esteem and maladaptive perfectionism. The tolerance values were above the cut-off point 0.40 and the variance inflation factor values were below 2.5.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Stefan Kempke & Patrick Luyten

  2. Research Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK

    Patrick Luyten

  3. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Reference Centre, University Hospitals Leuven, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Boudewijn Van Houdenhove, Lutgarde Goossens, Patrick Bekaert & Peter Van Wambeke

Authors
  1. Stefan Kempke
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  2. Patrick Luyten
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  3. Boudewijn Van Houdenhove
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  4. Lutgarde Goossens
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  5. Patrick Bekaert
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  6. Peter Van Wambeke
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Correspondence to Stefan Kempke.

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Kempke, S., Luyten, P., Van Houdenhove, B. et al. Self-esteem mediates the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression in chronic fatigue syndrome. Clin Rheumatol 30, 1543–1548 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-011-1772-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-011-1772-8

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