Maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress: The mediating role of resilience and trait emotional intelligence

University students experience significantly high levels of psychological distress. Such distress has been related to depression and anxiety, which in turn have been related to low resilience and low trait emotional intelligence, and also to maladaptive perfectionism. However, no current research has investigated maladaptive perfectionism’s relationship with a more general psychological distress experienced by university students. Therefore, the current study investigated associations among maladaptive perfectionism, resilience, trait emotional intelligence and psychological distress in 171 university students (29 males; 138 females; Mage = 28.48 years; SD = 11.58). Results identified maladaptive perfectionism to significantly, positively correlate with psychological distress in university students. The combination of increased maladaptive perfectionism, low resilience and low trait emotional intelligence significantly predicted psychological distress. Additionally, resilience and trait emotional intelligence significantly added to the prediction of overall psychological distress, above and beyond maladaptive perfectionism. Finally, resilience and trait emotional intelligence both partially mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress in university students. Findings suggest resilience and trait emotional intelligence to be important factors in predicting general psychological distress in student maladaptive perfectionists. The current study provided additional supporting evidence for the importance of developing resilience and trait emotional intelligence in intervention and prevention strategies for psychological distress in maladaptive perfectionist students.