Perfectionism, Maladaptive Self-presentation and Suicide Ideation in Male Retirees Perfectionism, Maladaptive Self-presentation and Suicide Ideation in Male Retirees

Perfectionism is a multifaceted trait that can be conceptualized by three distinguished dimensions: Self-oriented Perfectionism, Other-oriented perfectionism and Socially Prescribed Perfectionism. Perfectionists engage in maladaptive self-presentation styles, such as self-promotion, nondisplay and nondisclosure to maintain their appeared perfection. Previous research has established the association between trait perfectionism and suicide behaviors. I would suggest that perfectionistic male retirees would be particularly vulnerable to suicide ideation due to stress brought by retirement and a lack of social support caused by perfectionists’ nondisclosure tendencies. I investigated whether and how trait and selfpresentational components of perfectionism predict suicide ideation following retirement. A total of 92 mentally and physically healthy male retirees completed measures of perfectionism, self-worth and suicide ideation at Time 1 before their retirement, and measures of nondisclosure, relationship specific worry, perceived stress and suicide ideation at Time 2 five months later. The results showed that socially prescribed perfectionism and all three perfectionistic self-presentational components were strongly correlated with depression, hopelessness, subjective sense of alienation and perceived stress. Mediation analysis suggested that the socially prescribed perfectionism indirectly led to suicide ideation through nondisclosure then subjective social disconnection, d = .002 with CI.95 = [.0004, .01]. A moderated mediation model revealed that the indirect pathway of suicide ideation was enhanced by contingence selfworth from others’ approval and subjective stress, d = .0029 with CI.95 = [.0001, .01]. That is, for retirees who felt that others demanded perfection from them, the more they based their self-worth on others’ approval, the more they tended to engage in nondisclosure, which led to subjective sense of alienation. Consequentially, subjectively disconnected retirees with higher levels of stress are more likely to develop suicide ideation compared to retirees with lower levels of stress. Interventions that promote help seeking behaviors could be critical in suicide prevention among male retirees. Perfectionism, Maladaptive Self-presentation and Suicide Ideation in Male Retirees 2 Suicide is a significant problem in the United States. Heron et al. (2008) reported that suicide was the 11 th leading cause of death in the United States in 2006, accounting for 33,300 deaths. The suicide rate among male seniors are exceptionally high: black men experience the second suicide peak at old age whereas suicide rate of white men peaks at the oldest group over 45 per 100,000 per year, almost four times the nation's overall age adjusted rate of 11.5 per 100,000 per year (Conwell, Orden, & Caine, 2011). Case controlled studies have established several significant suicide risk factors such as physical illness (Juurlink, Herrmann, Szalai, Kopp, & Redelmeier, 2004), cognitive deficit (Dombrovski et al., 2008), mental illness (Waern, Rubenowitz, & Wilhelmson, 2003), and especially mood disorder (Conwell et al., 2009). Because of the somewhat slow progress in this area, researchers are urged to go beyond medical models and consider integrative models that address interpersonal factors (Prinstein, 2008). Past and present theorists have postulated the disruption in interpersonal relationship as a suicide risk factor (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Joiner, 2005; Van Orden et al., 2010). Studies using psychological autopsy have demonstrated that impaired interpersonal relationship often precedes suicide (e.g., Miller, 1977). Case controlled studies also provide support for the relationship between impairment in interpersonal relationship and suicide behavior (Duberstein, Conwell, Conner, Eberly, Evinger, & Caine, 2004; Rubenowitz, Waern, Wilhelmson, & Allebeck, 2001). There is also evidence suggesting that a lack of interpersonal interaction increases suicide risk beyond physical and mental risk factors (Beautrais, 2002). Perfectionism has been linked to suicide because of its interpersonal nature. Baumeister (1990) proposed that suicide is sought as a mean to escape overwhelming distress caused by a perfectionist’s inability to fulfill extremely high standard that others seemingly demand. Hewitt and Flett (1993a; 2002) proposed that perfectionism could create, enhance and prolong Perfectionism, Maladaptive Self-presentation and Suicide Ideation in Male Retirees 3 interpersonal stressors that lead to severe maladjustment such as suicide potential. Most recently, Hewitt and colleagues (2006) have established perfectionism as interpersonal risk factor of suicide in a model that incorporates the interpersonal components of perfectionism, impairment of social relationship and suicide behavior, known as the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM).