Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, Michigan, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2012 Jan;29(1):47-53. doi: 10.1002/da.20890. Epub 2011 Aug 24.
Theory and research suggest that maladaptive perfectionism, specifically, concerns about mistakes (CM) and doubts about actions (DA), may be important etiologic and maintenance mechanisms for anxiety and its disorders. However, no studies speaking directly to the origins of the relationship, i.e. what etiologic factors underlie the phenotypic association between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism, exist. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring genetic and environmental relationships between anxiety symptoms and maladaptive perfectionism.
The sample consisted of 292 young adult same-sex female twins from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Anxiety symptoms were assessed by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait version and an anxiety problems scale derived from the Young Adult Self Report. Maladaptive perfectionism was measured using the CM and DA subscales of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale.
Anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism were both moderately heritable, with estimates ranging from. 45 to .66. Moreover, multivariate analyses revealed that genetic factors were primarily responsible for associations between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism (r(g) =.59-.88).
This is the first study to demonstrate the role of genetic factors in the relationship between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism. Future studies are needed to uncover the specific biologic and genetic factors that contribute to this relationship and to evaluate whether maladaptive perfectionism represents an intermediate trait or risk factor for anxiety.
理论和研究表明，适应不良的完美主义，特别是对错误的担忧（CM）和对行动的怀疑（DA），可能是焦虑及其障碍的重要发病和维持机制。然而，目前还没有研究直接探讨焦虑和适应不良完美主义之间关系的起源，即焦虑和适应不良完美主义之间表型关联的发病因素是什么。本研究旨在通过探索焦虑症状和适应不良完美主义之间的遗传和环境关系来填补这一文献空白。
该样本由密歇根州立大学双胞胎登记处的 292 名年轻成年同性别女性双胞胎组成。焦虑症状通过状态特质焦虑量表特质版和青年自我报告中的焦虑问题量表进行评估。适应不良的完美主义通过多维度完美主义量表的 CM 和 DA 分量表来衡量。
焦虑和适应不良的完美主义都具有中度遗传性，估计值在.45 到.66 之间。此外，多变量分析表明，遗传因素主要负责焦虑和适应不良完美主义之间的关联（r(g) =.59-.88）。
这是第一项研究表明遗传因素在焦虑和适应不良完美主义之间的关系中的作用。未来的研究需要揭示导致这种关系的具体生物和遗传因素，并评估适应不良的完美主义是否代表焦虑的中间特征或风险因素。
