Abstract
ObjectivesTo assess whether maladaptive perfectionism (parental and intrapersonal), mediated by self-esteem and internalized shame, lead to depressive symptoms, and to identify whether this model was invariant (i.e., structurally unchanged) across groups of Australian domestic and Asian international students.MethodsA total of 624 (308 Australian domestic and 316 Asian international undergraduate university students) completed a questionnaire on the variables of interest.ResultsAustralian domestic and Asian international students did not significantly differ in reported levels of study variables apart from parental maladaptive perfectionism, on which Australian domestic students scored significantly higher. The proposed path-model differed across student groups, with findings indicating that intrapersonal maladaptive perfectionism impacted indirectly on depressive symptoms through internalized shame in both groups, however, indirectly through self-esteem in only the Asian international student group.ConclusionIntrapersonal maladaptive perfectionism may be a culturally independent process, capable of predisposing all university students to develop depressive symptoms, but that self-esteem may be a particularly relevant mediator of this relationship among Asian international students.
Highlights
In 2016, over 24% of the 1.2 million higher education students studying in Australia were international students
0.70 3.18 0.78 0.82 0.03 third of the Asian international sample reported having been in Australia for less than a year (37%), while 24.3% reported having spent over 4 years in Australia
Against expectations, the analysis revealed that higher intrapersonal and parental maladaptive perfectionism and higher internalized shame were significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms
Summary
In 2016, over 24% of the 1.2 million higher education students studying in Australia were international students. It is thought to exert effects on depression for both international and local students via other dispositional characteristics, including self-esteem (e.g., Shafran et al, 2002; Sowislo and Orth, 2013) and internalized shame (e.g., Ashby et al, 2006; Porter et al, 2018) These proposed pathways to depression have rarely been compared cross-culturally between groups of domestic Australian and Asian international students. This study aimed to test, for the first time in a mixed Australian domestic and Asian international university student sample, the utility of a proposed path-model of maladaptive perfectionism and depressive symptoms mediated by self-esteem and internalized shame
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