The relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation and reactions to impairment and disability following spinal cord injury

Univariate and multivariate relationships between perfectionistic self-presentation and reactions to impairment and disability following spinal cord injury were examined. One hundred and forty-four adults with spinal cord injury (M = 48.18 years, SD = 15.96) completed self-report measures. Analyses revealed that, after controlling for time since injury and gender, perfectionistic self-presentation predicted six of eight reactions, shock, depression, and internalised anger particularly strongly. In addition, at multivariate level, perfectionistic self-presentation was positively related to non-adaptive reactions and negatively related to adaptive reactions. The findings suggest that perfectionistic self-presentation may contribute to poorer psychosocial adaptation to spinal cord injury.