P-128 - Perfectionism in social anxiety disorder: gender differences

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common anxiety disorder with a life-time prevalence around 7–10%. Perfectionism is a personality construct defined as the setting of high standards paired with overly critical self-evaluation in pursuit of those standards. Although perfectionism has generally been associated with several forms of psychopathology, research in social anxiety has received less attention. To explore the relationship between perfectionism and SAD. A cross-sectional survey of 571 university students was designed. We analysed the association between perfectionism components (concern over mistakes, personal standards, parental expectations, parental criticism, doubt about actions and organisation) and SAD with the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). SAD diagnostic was confirmed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-Axis-I. Twelve percent of the sample had SAD, with no gender differences. For both sex, the prevalence of high-perfectionism (FMPS total) was higher in SAD than in control group (p < 0.001). Specifically, high-concern over mistakes and high-doubt about actions was associated to SAD in both gender whereas high-parental criticism was associated to SAD only in women. After controlling for age and personal psychiatric history, only high-concern over mistakes was associated with an increased risk of SAD (OR = 3.41;95%CI = 1.56–7.46) in women. This study supports the association between SAD and perfectionism specifically with the high-concern over mistakes component in women.