Moderating the role of self-compassion in the relationship between perfectionism and depression

To better understand the perfectionism-depression link, this study aimed to explore the moderating role of self-compassion in the relationship between perfectionism and depression. To gauge the impacts of self-compassion and perfectionism on depression, researchers assessed 210 depressed inpatients in four hospitals in Iran. The results of the Structural Equation Modelling showed that personal standards perfectionism and self-compassion negatively predicted depression, and evaluative concerns perfectionism positively predicted depression. Results from a multi-group analysis suggested that self-compassion moderated the relationship between evaluative concerns perfectionism and depression. However, it has no moderation effect on personal standards perfectionism and depression. The findings showed that self-compassion could decrease the effects of evaluative concerns perfectionism on depression.