The relationship between social status and stress with work pressure and socially prescribed perfectionism as possible mediators
Summary
The present study assessed the relationship between social status and stress, and whether this
relationship was mediated by work pressure and socially prescribed perfectionism. The study
was conducted with an online questionnaire measuring social status, stress, work pressure and
socially prescribed perfectionism. The sample consisted of 148 participants after data
cleaning. Results of a mediation analysis found no significant mediating effects of work
pressure and socially prescribed perfectionism on the relationship between social status and
stress. Results did find a significant effect for the relationship between social status and stress
with a low social status leading to more stress. This was not in line with the hypothesis. The
variable social support could explain why the hypotheses were not confirmed by the results.
Limitations of the study were that there were not enough participants to have a high enough
power and that social status was measured with a self-perception scale. A replication is
needed to determine if work pressure and socially prescribed perfectionism are mediators of
the relationship between social status and stress. In this replication social support should be
added as a control variable.