Predictive Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas in Neurotic Perfectionism in Middle-School Female Students from Kangavar

Abstract

<strong>Background:</strong> Perfectionism is marked by several cognitive biases, including a tendency towards rumination and generalization of failures, strong attention to errors and a tendency to interpret ambiguous feedback as critical or negative. <strong>Objectives:</strong> This study investigates the predictive role of early maladaptive schemas in neurotic perfectionism in middle-school female students from Kangavar, Iran. <strong>Materials and Methods:</strong> This descriptive-comparative causal study was carried out on 250 female students of a middle-school in Kangavar. Participants were selected according to multistage randomized cluster sampling. The instruments used were the New Measure of Perfectionism and the Early Maladaptive Schema Questionnaire for Children Data were analyzed at the 95% confidence level, using SPSS 18 statistical software. <strong>Results:</strong> The study demonstrated that perfectionist students gained significantly higher scores in six out of eleven schemas (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive relationship among early maladaptive schemas and perfectionists in the schemas of loneliness, vulnerability, mistrust and abuse, submission, and unrelenting standards. Self-sacrifice predicted neurotic perfectionism in students. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Early maladaptive schema may develop during the earliest years of life. It can be said that identification and diagnosis of early maladaptive schema among students will enable the provision of interventions for psychological disorders related to maladaptive schemas, including neurotic perfectionism.