Perfectionism and relationship adjustment in pain patients and their spouses.

Abstract

The authors assessed whether social facets of perfectionism were associated with indexes of dyadic and family adjustment. A sample of 83 pain patients and their spouses completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Family Assessment Device, Beck Depression Inventory, and Multiaxial Pain Inventory. After controlling for depression, the authors found that pain patients' relationship adjustments were associated with their spouses ' other-oriented perfection-ism. Also, pain patients rated their other-oriented perfectionistic spouses as less supportive. Spouses ' reports of poor dyadic and family adjustment were associated with their own socially prescribed perfectionism. The findings suggest that social aspects of perfectionism contribute to poor family adjustment. Research on relationship adjustment contin-ues to receive a great deal of attention in the psychology literature. Research in this area is important given the widespread consequences of the dissolution of marriages and the break-down of family units. Clearly, an overarching goal in this area is to identify variables that predict which couples or families are most sus-ceptible to relationship problems. To date, a variety of factors have been implicated in rela-tionship maladjustment, including attributional style (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990), coping

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