When being imperfect Just won’t do: exploring the relationship between perfectionism and suicidality

The current study aimed to increase understanding of the relationship between perfectionism and various forms of suicidality, as well as explore potential pathways that account for the relationship. 130 university students completed measures of perfectionism, shame, difficulties with emotion regulation, self-compassion, depression severity, and hopelessness, as well explicit and implicit measures of suicidality. Results indicated that adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism were not uniquely associated with implicit and explicit suicidality. However, when not controlling for depression severity and hopelessness, higher levels of maladaptive perfectionism were associated with heightened explicit suicidality. Furthermore, results indicated that shame significantly mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and explicit suicidality. Implications for understanding the link between perfectionism and suicidality are discussed, as are potential clinical implications for reducing suicidality amongst perfectionistic individuals.