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Previous work has focused on positive feelings of mattering, which pertain to the human need to feel significant. In the current article, we examine a complementary yet distinct construct involving feelings of not mattering that may arise from being marginalized and experiences that heighten a sense of being insignificant to others. We also describe the development, validation, and research applications of the Anti-Mattering Scale. The Anti-Mattering Scale (AMS) is a five-item inventory assessing feelings of not mattering to other people. Psychometric analyses of data from samples of emerging adults and adolescents confirmed that the AMS comprises one factor with high internal consistency and adequate validity. Our findings suggest that individuals who feel like they do not matter to others have a highly negative self-view, insecure attachment, and perceived deficits in meeting key psychological needs. Analyses established that links between elevated AMS scores and levels of depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. Most notably, scores on this new measure predicted unique variance in key outcomes beyond the variance attributable to other predictors. Overall, these results attest to the research utility and clinical potential of the AMS as an instrument examining the tendency of certain people to experience a profound sense of not mattering to others in ways that represent a unique source of risk, social disconnection, and personal vulnerability.

The current study examined the feasibility of adapting an existing measure to create a brief mattering measure suitable for use with adolescents. We then evaluated this brief measure by testing the hypothesis that mattering in adolescents is associated broadly with positive achievement outcomes and associated motivational orientations and behavioral tendencies. A sample of 206 high school students completed a slightly modified version of the Mattering Index, the Pattern of Adaptive Learning Scales, and a measure of executive function. School grades, school risk behavior, and social risk behavior were also assessed. Participants also completed measures of hope and loneliness. Psychometric analyses resulted in two brief four-item mattering subscales tapping a) general mattering and b) mattering by giving value to others. Correlational and regression analyses established that both mattering factors were associated with a positive academic orientation and higher grades. Mattering was also associated with less risk behavior, lower levels of loneliness, and higher levels of hope. Gender differences were found in terms of levels of mattering and the correlates of mattering. The findings are discussed in terms of how a focus on the promotion of mattering should contribute to an adaptive academic orientation, enhanced self-regulation, and the capacity to be adaptable and resilient.

The current study focused primarily on the associations that feelings of not mattering have with life satisfaction, stress, and distress among students trying to cope with the uncertain and novel circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 350 University students from Italy completed measures that included the General Mattering Scale and the Anti-Mattering Scale, as well as measures of self-esteem, difficulties in emotion regulation, life satisfaction, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. Psychometric analyses confirmed the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the General Mattering Scale and the Anti-Mattering Scale. As expected, feelings of not mattering were associated with lower life satisfaction as well as with greater reported difficulties in emotion regulation, stress, and distress. Mattering and self-esteem were both unique predictors of levels of life satisfaction during the pandemic. The results of mediational analyses suggested that individuals who feel as though they do not matter may be especially vulnerable to stress, depression, and anxiety and this may promote a decline in life satisfaction. Given the potential destructiveness of feelings of not mattering, in general but especially during a global pandemic, it is essential to proactively develop interventions and programs that are designed to enhance feelings of mattering and reduce anti-mattering experiences and feelings.

In the current article, we consider the broad question of “Why is perfectionism antithetical to mindfulness?” and we examine the implications for the treatment of perfectionists suffering from stress-related illnesses and disorders. In addition, we review past research on perfectionism and mindfulness. Finally, we also report two empirical studies with university students evaluating the link between perfectionism and dispositional mindfulness. The findings from these studies demonstrate uniquely that socially prescribed perfectionism and facets of perfectionistic self-presentation are both associated with low mindfulness. Additionally, mindfulness was a mediator of the associations between interpersonal facets of perfectionism and depression in study 2. Collectively, the findings suggest that people who experience pressures to be perfect and who are engaged excessively in extreme self-presentation can benefit substantially from increased mindfulness, but it is particularly difficult for certain perfectionists to develop a state of mindfulness that is not consonant with their personality, temperament, and orientation toward life. The implications for the treatment of distressed perfectionists are discussed.

The current study sought to illustrate the vulnerability of people who feel like they do not matter by uniquely examining the extent to which feelings of not mattering are associated with insecure attachment styles, rumination, facets of self-criticism, and depression. Analyses of data from a cross-sectional sample of 247 university students established that mattering was associated negatively with insecure attachment and ruminative brooding and with multiple facets of self-criticism, including self-hate. As expected, depression was associated negatively with mattering. Depression was also linked with insecure attachment, rumination, and self-criticism. A regression analysis showed that mattering uniquely predicted depression after taking into account the variance explained by insecure attachment, rumination, and self-criticism. Additionally, rumination mediated the link between low mattering and depression. Our findings highlight the need to consider mattering as a potentially unique vulnerability among distressed students that involves a salient cognitive element and an internalized negative self-view that can potentiate self-criticism and self-hate. Collectively, our results also underscore the need for interventions targeting the sense of not mattering to others among emerging adults.

The current study evaluated factors that can help to account for the links between peer victimization and distress among 1039 adolescents. We assessed whether rejection sensitivity and self-esteem mediate the longitudinal associations between peer victimization and mental health problems. High school students completed a series of self-report questionnaires assessing forms of peer victimization, rejection sensitivity, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and substance use at two time points. The key finding was that both rejection sensitivity and self-esteem mediated the associations between peer victimization at Time 1 and mental health problems 1-year later. These results help illuminate the mechanisms through which peer victimization is associated with mental health problems in adolescents. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Although research has established that feelings of not mattering are associated with distress, the factors and processes that contribute to these associations have not received much consideration. The current study was conducted to address three themes. First, mattering was evaluated from a motivational perspective by examining mattering and regulatory focus. Second, the uniqueness of low mattering in predicting distress was investigated when considered along with other predictors (i.e., self-esteem and regulatory focus). Finally, a negative inferential style involving perceptions of negative social feedback was tested as a cognitive mediator of the link between mattering and distress. Mattering was correlated moderately with a promotion self-regulation focus. Regression analyses showed that mattering was also linked uniquely with distress beyond the variance predicted by self-esteem and regulatory focus. In addition, the association between low mattering and distress was mediated by negative social feedback. Our findings highlight the need for further investigation of mattering as a unique contributor to distress and the factors associated with mattering.

In the current article, we describe the development and validation of a self-report measure of self-generated stress and its associations with measures of perfectionism, self-criticism, and distress. The Self-Generated Stress Scale is a seven-item inventory that taps the tendency to see oneself as someone who generates and adds to existing personal stress (i.e., making a challenging situation worse or turning a life problem into a bigger problem). Psychometric analyses with data from three samples of university students showed that the Self-Generated Stress Scale has one factor and acceptable internal consistency. Analyses established that self-generated stress is associated with trait perfectionism, self-criticism, dependency, and self-silencing, as well as indices tapping cognitive perfectionism and perfectionistic self-presentation. Self-generated stress was also associated with distress and psychosomatic health symptoms. Regression analyses established that scores on the Self-Generated Stress Scale predict unique variance in distress and negative affect beyond the variance attributable to self-criticism and other measures of stress. Overall, our findings attest to the further use of the Self-Generated Stress Scale in various contexts and highlight that certain perfectionists suffer from a perceived tendency to make their lives more stressful. The implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.

In the current article, we describe the development and validation of the Mistake Rumination Scale as a supplement to existing trait and cognitive measures of perfectionism. The Mistake Rumination Scale is a seven-item inventory that taps the tendency to ruminate about a past personal mistake. Psychometric analyses confirmed that the Mistake Rumination Scale consists of one factor assessed with high internal consistency. Analyses established that elevated levels of mistake rumination are associated with trait perfectionism, ruminative brooding, depression, and social anxiety. Moreover, scores on the Mistake Rumination Scale significantly predicted unique variance in depression beyond the variance accounted for by trait perfectionism dimensions, rumination, and automatic thoughts. Overall, our findings attest to the further use of the Mistake Rumination Scale and highlight the tendency of certain perfectionists to suffer from cognitive forms of perfectionism involving overthinking about past mistakes and related imperfections involving the self.

The current study uniquely examines mattering and narcissism and reflects our contention that pathological narcissism involves an excessive need to matter and a hypersensitivity to being devalued and not mattering to other people. Specifically, we evaluated the proposed association between pathological narcissism and deficits in mattering by comparing the results obtained with the Anti-Mattering Scale and the General Mattering Scale. We also evaluated anti-mattering as a potential mediator of the link between narcissism and distress. A sample of 168 university students completed the Anti-Mattering Scale, the General Mattering Scale, the Pathological Narcissism Inventory, and a depression measure. Results confirmed that elevated scores on the Anti-Mattering Scale are associated with grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as well as depression. Mattering assessed by the General Mattering Scale had a weaker association with narcissism, thus highlighting the distinction between the Anti-Mattering Scale and the General Mattering Scale. Further analyses suggested that elevated Anti-Mattering Scale scores did indeed mediate the link between vulnerable narcissism and depression in keeping with anti-mattering as a factor that elicits the vulnerability of narcissists. Our findings attest to the uniqueness of the Anti-Mattering Scale and illustrate the need to consider the role of feelings of not mattering as a contributor to the self and identity issues and interpersonal sensitivity that contribute to pathological narcissism. This work also suggests the need to emphasize an excessive need to matter when assessing the self and when developing future measures of the need to matter.

Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality construct with various components. Socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., perceived social pressures and expectations to be perfect) is one key element. This trait dimension represents a chronic source of pressure that elicits feelings of helplessness and hopelessness at extreme levels. Unfortunately, at present, the destructiveness of socially prescribed perfectionism has not been fully recognized or extended conceptually despite the extensive volume of research on this dimension. To address this, we first trace the history and initial conceptualization of socially prescribed perfectionism. Next, we summarize and review findings that underscore the uniqueness and impact of socially prescribed perfectionism, including an emphasis on its link with personal, relationship, and societal outcomes that reflect poor mental well-being, physical health, and interpersonal adjustment. Most notably, we propose that socially prescribed perfectionism is a complex entity in and of itself and introduce new conceptual elements of socially prescribed perfectionism designed to illuminate further the nature of this construct and its role in distress, illness, dysfunction, and impairment. It is concluded that socially prescribed perfectionism is a significant public health concern that urgently requires sustained prevention and intervention efforts.

The current research examined personality and individual difference factors associated with the perceived ability to adapt to the significant challenges accompanying the ongoing public health crisis concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study investigated the associations among self-reported adaptability to the pandemic and personality predispositions (dependency, self-criticism, mattering, and self-esteem), cognitive factors (positive, negative, and loneliness automatic thoughts), loneliness, distress, and mood states. A sample of 462 college students from Israel completed an online questionnaire after 10 weeks of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirmed that personality vulnerability factors underscored by a negative sense of self (i.e., self-criticism and dependency) and individual difference factors reflecting self-esteem, feelings of mattering, and fear of not mattering are associated in meaningful ways with adaptability to the pandemic, loneliness, distress, negative mood states, and positive mood states. Most notably, higher self-reported adaptability to the pandemic is associated with lower dependency, self-criticism, and fear of not mattering, and higher levels of self-esteem and mattering. The findings attest to the central role of adaptability and related individual difference factors in acclimatizing to the numerous changes and challenges associated with the COVID-19 crisis. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

The primary objective of this study was to test the effects of historical male partner violence and lawyer representation on post-separation male partner violence and coercive control against mother litigants participating in adversarial family court proceedings. Toward this end, staff at two women’s shelters administered a questionnaire to 40 former residents who met the sample selection criteria. Two findings are noteworthy. First, there was a decrease in mother litigant reports of post-separation physical violence requiring a visit to a hospital. Second, post-separation male partner coercive control “most/some of the time” was reported by 97.5% of all 40 separated mother litigants who also reported experiencing historical coercive control by their male partners. Recommendations and limitations are described in the final two pages.

The current study examined the associations among dimensions of perfectionism, facets of stress reactivity, and self-reported depressive symptoms in 191 university students. Participants completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS), and a measure of depressive symptoms. The PSRS is a relatively new instrument that measures several distinguishable facets of stress reactivity including prolonged stress reactivity, reactivity to failure, and reactivity to social evaluation. Analyses confirmed that most of the perfectionism measures were associated with stress reactivity to failure experiences. Socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic automatic thoughts were also associated with prolonged stress reactivity and reactivity to social evaluation. Moreover, all facets of stress reactivity were correlated with depressive symptoms. Finally, prolonged stress reactivity and reactivity to social evaluation mediated the links between perfectionism dimensions and depressive symptoms. The current findings provide general support for models of perfectionism and stress, and suggest that perfectionists have heightened sensitivities to stressors related to their self-definitions that are activated when threatening stressors involving these themes are experienced.

The current research extends previous theory and research on perfectionism and motivation by showing that perfectionism involves a propensity to pursue self-image goals. It was shown across three studies that dimensions of trait and self-presentational perfectionism were associated with self-image goals in the areas of academics, friendships, and self-improvement. These associations were not simply a reflection of the variance attributable to constructs associated with perfectionism such as self-silencing or self-consciousness. Further, validation seeking mediated the association between perfectionism and self-image goals. Additionally, self-image goals mediated the associations that perfectionism has with depression and burnout. Our findings suggest that perfectionists operate according to a chronically activated “egosystem” and their preoccupation with self-image concerns is central to understanding the compulsive striving and pressure they experience.

While mattering to others is regarded as an essential element of personal adjustment, relatively little is known about the developmental origins and psychosocial correlates of mattering. The current research examined the extent to which a reported history of childhood maltreatment contributed to feelings of not mattering to others. We also examined the associations between mattering and measures of psychosocial adjustment (i.e., loneliness and social anxiety) and whether low perceived mattering was associated with these indices of adjustment after controlling for variance attributable to the broad personality traits comprising the five-factor model. A sample of 232 university students completed a general mattering measure and scales tapping childhood maltreatment, the five-factor model, loneliness, and social anxiety. As expected, mattering was associated negatively with reports of emotional maltreatment and emotional neglect with the strongest association being with emotional neglect. Additionally, low mattering was associated with loneliness and social anxiety and these findings held after taking into account the clear links that reduced mattering had with low extraversion and high neuroticism. We also showed that mattering mediates the links that maltreatment has with both loneliness and social phobia. The results illustrate the interpersonal antecedents and correlates of feeling insignificant and unimportant to other people.

Extensive research has illustrated the relevance of individual differences in perfectionistic self-presentation, but there has been little work on how perfectionistic self-presentation is expressed. The current research addressed this issue by examining the tendency to project a perfectionistic image by hiding effort. This research develops and evaluates a brief unifactorial measure as an extension of perfectionistic self-presentation. It is shown that the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Hiding Effort Scale is reliable and valid in terms of its links with multidimensional perfectionism dimensions. Further, individual differences in seeming perfect while hiding effort accounted for unique variance in depression and social anxiety. Factors and processes that contribute to attempting to seem perfect while hiding effort are discussed.

This chapter is about two interconnected main premises that follow from acknowledging the presence of young people who suffer in silence. First, the prevalence of anxiety and depression and other mental health problems among adolescents is not only large and growing, but it is also very much underestimated; that is, we are facing a much bigger problem than most people realize. Second, many young people are hiding their problems behind a facade, and they never seek help or even confide in friends or family members. In essence, they are “flying under the radar,” and the people in their lives are largely unaware of this hidden psychological pain. This chapter examines this hidden psychological pain and the reasons for it. While our focus is primarily on depression and anxiety, it is acknowledged that secret mental health issues can take many forms, including secret acts of intentional self-harm and eating behavior (e.g., bulimia). It is also likely that some of the experiences that potentiate the false self are kept hidden due to the anticipated reactions of other people (e.g., the feelings of loneliness that often accompany depression and social anxiety).

The cognitive reactivity of perfectionists plays a key role in perfectionism as a diathesis for distress and health problems. This chapter provides an overview of the influential history of perfectionism from a cognitive perspective. It illustrates the relevance of the cognitive elements of perfectionism by describing research on individual differences in perfectionistic cognitions. The chapter expresses that perfectionistic cognitions are an important supplement not only in clinical assessments, but also in perfectionism research. The cognitive elements of perfectionism are also reflected in the frost multidimensional perfectionism scale (FMPS). At a deep structural level, perfectionists will have multiple self-representations that can become activated depending on current life experiences. Cognitive perfectionism at the propositional level should also reflect the approach–avoidance conflict that characterizes many perfectionists. Cognitive activation can include various forms of uncontrollable worry and cognitive products such as mistake ruminations and stress-related rumination.

The current study extended research linking trait perfectionism with health symptoms by examining perfectionism from a cognitive perspective focused on perfectionistic automatic thoughts in psychosomatic symptoms. It was postulated that a cognitive preoccupation with needing to be perfect is a specific form of rumination implicated in health problems. In addition, we evaluated daily hassles and negative affect as possible mediators of the link between perfectionistic automatic thoughts and psychosomatic symptoms. A sample of 228 participants completed the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory and measures of daily hassles, positive affect, negative affect, and psychosomatic symptoms. As expected, perfectionistic automatic thoughts were linked significantly with psychosomatic symptoms, daily hassles, and trait negative affect. Tests of mediational effects indicated that daily hassles and negative affect mediated the link between perfectionistic automatic thoughts and psychosomatic symptoms and this pattern held for both men and women. The results indicate that people with frequent thoughts about needing to be perfect are susceptible to experiencing more frequent psychosomatic symptoms and should benefit from stress reduction training and cognitive-behavioral interventions focused on reducing these thoughts.

The present study examined trait perfectionism, automatic perfectionistic thoughts, rumination, worry, and depressive symptoms in early adolescents. A group of 81 elementary school students in Grades 7 and 8 completed 5 questionnaires: the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Children’s Response Styles Questionnaire, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The correlational results revealed associations between both trait perfectionism and perfectionistic automatic thoughts and the indices of depression and worry. Rumination was associated with perfectionistic automatic thoughts, self-oriented perfectionism, depression, and worry. Tests of mediation indicated that rumination mediated the association between perfectionism and depressive symptoms, thus highlighting the role of maladaptive forms of cognitive reactivity in perfectionism. The findings suggested that perfectionistic children and youth are at-risk due to cognitive vulnerabilities and they should benefit from programs focused jointly on reducing perfectionism, associated cognitive tendencies, and susceptibility to depression and worry.

In this chapter, we examine the tendency for vulnerable perfectionists to obsessively ruminate and cognitively perseverate in response to stress and to feelings of distress, and we introduce a cognitive theory of perfectionism. Our analysis includes an overview of the studies showing that various elements of trait perfectionism are associated with worry and ruminative brooding in maladaptive ways, which have significant implications for the onset and persistence of health and mental health problems. The vulnerability of both self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) is jointly emphasized, as it is shown that both SOP and SPP are linked consistently with worry and rumination. The costs and consequences of this excessive cognitive perseveration are outlined within the context of a conceptual framework for our proposed cognitive theory of perfectionism. A central premise of perfectionism cognition theory is that certain perfectionists are chronically engaged in overthinking. We propose an expanded conceptualization of rumination in perfectionism that includes the tendency for perfectionists to experience frequent automatic thoughts about their need to be perfect and to engage in excessive mistake rumination, failure perseveration, and social comparison rumination. Our analysis of “perseverating perfectionists” emphasizes that their propensity to engage in various forms of ruminative thinking is deeply rooted in self and identity issues involving chronic self-uncertainty, self-doubt, a need for self-validation, and a chronic self-focus on the acceptability of dispositional characteristics. The role of cognitive perseveration in the health and mental health problems of vulnerable perfectionists is discussed.