When rhythm is missing in parent-child relationship: The mediating role of the unmet basic needs in the link between parental overprotection and perfectionism

Introduction Excessive perfectionism has always been a topic of great interest in the field of psychology since it entails the onset and maintenance of a wide range of psychological issues across the lifespan (e.g., anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts). Over the past decades, several conceptualizations of perfectionism have been proposed, and one of the adopted is the Comprehensive Model of Perfectionistic Behavior (CMPB; Hewitt et al., 2017). This model identifies three main components: perfectionism traits, perfectionistic self-presentational facets, and perfectionistic cognitions. Considering the relevance of perfectionism in explaining negative outcomes and that levels of perfectionism have increased over time, literature has focused on studying the possible risk factors that may account for its development. At this regard, the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) aims to offer a framework to explain one potential developmental pathway of perfectionism (Hewitt et al., 2017). According to PSDM, perfectionism develops within a relational context as a result of an unsuitable or asynchronous parent-child relationship (Hewitt et al., 2017). This asynchrony mirrors the discrepancy between a child’s own needs and the parents' responses to them. Among the different forms of asynchrony in the parent-child relationship, parental overprotection – characterized by excessive contact, prolonged infantilization, and active discouragement of autonomy and independent behavior of one's children (Parker et al., 1979) – has been one focus of empirical investigation. Despite the association between parental overprotection and perfectionism is well documented, the psychological processes underlying this link are unclear. A possible explanation can be advanced by adopting the perspective of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci 2017), according to which all human beings have three universal, innate, and nonhierarchical psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Interestingly, the potential mediating role of the frustration of these needs in the link between parental overprotection and perfectionism dimensions has been scarcely investigated, even if their frustration has already turned out to be related to perfectionism (Herrera et al., 2021). In the current study, we argue that perfectionistic tendencies might develop as a consequence of unmet basic needs as strategies to hide one’s own self of low competence and autonomy and protect against experiences of rejection/abandonment. Therefore, we hypothesized that the excessive involvement and help provided by parents would entail the frustration of the basic psychological needs which, in turn, lead to the emergence of trait perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation, and perfectionistic cognitions as a way to cope with them. Methods A total of 319 participants (73.7% females; Mage = 31.51 ± 13.04 years) were recruited. The inclusion criteria were to have an age greater than or equal to 18 years and to have had both parents alive during their first 16 years of life. The Italian versions of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS), the Big Three Perfectionism Scale–Short Form (BTPS-SF), the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale (PSPS), and the Perfectionism Cognition Inventory (PCI) were used to assess parental overprotection (both maternal and paternal), the frustration of the three basic psychological needs, the three higher order global perfectionism factors, the perfectionistic self-presentation, and the automatic thoughts associated with the need to be perfect, respectively. In order to verify the theoretical hypothesized models three different Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the Lavaan package for the R statistical software were computed for trait perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation, and perfectionistic cognition, respectively. To test the indirect effects, the distribution of product coefficients test (P) was used. Results The hypotheses were tested considering the overall sample since significant gender differences were found only on narcissistic perfectionism [F(1, 317) = 4.85; p = .03; η2 = .02] with males reporting higher levels than females. As regards the three perfectionistic personality traits, the structural model produced adequate fit to the data [χ2 = 257.57, df = 107, p < .001; RMSEA = 0.07 (90% C.I. = 0.06-0.08), CFI = 0.95, SRMR = 0.05]. Regarding perfectionistic self-presentation, results of SEM analysis showed that the model had an adequate fit to the data [χ2 = 168.67, df = 75, p < .001; RMSEA = 0.06 (90% C.I. = 0.05-0.08), CFI = 0.97, SRMR = 0.04]. Finally, regarding perfectionistic cognition, the assessed structural model produced adequate fit to the data [χ2 = 153.85, df = 75, p < .001; RMSEA = 0.06 (90% C.I. = 0.04-0.07), CFI = 0.97, SRMR = 0.04]. In all three models tested, several statistically significant indirect effects emerged. Conclusion Overall, these findings extend results of previous studies by showing that perfectionistic tendencies (whether they are a need to be or appear perfect, or an inner dialogue centered on self-recrimination) might evolve as a consequence of the parents’ tendency to solve their children’ problems without help being requested or warn the child about every potential danger in their environment. This form of asynchrony might disturb the child’s internal representation of the self to be represented as defective (i.e., incompetent) or incapable to make one’s own choices (i.e., non-autonomous) and accomplish them. The results suggest that clinicians dealing with individuals with perfectionist tendencies could help them reduce their discomfort by working at level of basic psychological needs, increasing their perception of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This turns out to be particularly appropriate when patient narratives highlight issues related to experiences of parental overprotection since they may have tried to compensate for their supposed non-capability by striving for unrealistic results and avoiding to disclose any flaws to others.