Piekeren, perfectionisme en depressieve klachten in de vroege adolescentie

Abstract

Background: About 20 percent of adolescents in the Netherlands experience depressive symptoms. It is important to analyse the risk factors of depression in order to prevent depressive symptoms in adolescents. Worrying is an important risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents. Perfectionists are more likely to experience an exacerbated effect of worrying on depression. Therefore, current study investigates the relation between worrying and depressive symptoms and the moderator of perfectionism. In addition, this study disentangles how maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism moderate in this relationship. Methods: Participants were between 11-15 years old (N = 1,444). Current cross-sectional study used standardized questionnaires to assess depression, worrying and perfectionism. Multiple hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed with worrying as an independent variable, depression as a dependent variable and perfectionism as a moderator. Results: The regression analysis showed that worrying contributes significantly to depressive symptoms. Moderation analyses further indicated that only perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism moderated the link between worrying and depressive symptoms. Adaptive perfectionism did have a negative correlation with depressive symptoms. Discussion: In line with previous studies, this study shows there is a positive relationship between worrying and depression, with moderating roles of both perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism. Additionally, adaptive perfectionism might be considered a protective factor in the development of depressive symptoms. However, longitudinal follow-up research needs to validate these results by investigating whether conversion of maladaptive perfectionism into adaptive perfectionism prevents depressive symptoms.