Suicide affects hundreds of thousands of people around the world each year. Despite many coordinated efforts to address this problem, in multiple domains, these numbers have risen over the last decade. The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide is a relatively recent theory that has received considerable attention and investigation. Perceived burdensomeness is one of the constructs from this theory. The belief that you are a burden on others is a robust predictor of suicidal ideation and, to a less understood extent, suicidal behavior. To my knowledge, few studies have looked at the factors that lead to perceived burdensomeness. This study was conducted to begin to address this gap in the literature. Attributional style, hopelessness, socially-prescribed perfectionism, and self-esteem were identified as potential vulnerability factors for perceived burdensomeness. One hundred twenty individuals were surveyed about these constructs and perceived burdensomeness. Participants were also asked to read three vignettes based on interviews with individuals with lived experiences related to suicide attempts. Following each vignette, participants were asked to report the level of perceived burdensomeness that they anticipated that they would feel in that situation as an additional analogue measure of perceived burdensomeness. It was found that attributional style, socially-prescribed perfectionism, and self-esteem predicted current levels of perceived burdensomeness. Self-esteem was the only variable that predicted analogue levels of perceived burdensomeness, beyond current levels of depression. This exploratory study has the potential to contribute to the literature by guiding and informing future research related to better understanding or reducing perceived burdensomeness.

Although there is a wealth of research knowledge related to risk behavior engagement of the general student population, there is less specifically reported about honors students. To address this gap in research, non-honors and honors students were surveyed to determine possible differences in risk behavior engagement. Students were recruited through the East Tennessee State University psychology subject pool and via direct email messages to an honors student-specific listserv. We hypothesized that honors students would have differences in terms of GPA and number of credit hours, endorse more substance use and have more perceived stress compared to non-honors students. The survey sample was majority non-honors students (90.5%; n = 383), with 9.5% (n = 40) honors undergraduate students. After conducting chi-square tests of independence and independent t-tests we determined that there were no significant differences in substance use, life events, or emotional dysregulation between groups. However, upon analyzing demographic information honors students reported significantly higher GPAs (M = 3.77, SD = 0.32) than non-honors students (M = 3.53, SD = 0.53), t(404) = -2.72, p = .007. Additionally, honors students reported a higher number of credit hours than non-honors students, t(403) =-4.26, p < .001, with non-honors students taking an average of 14.67 (SD = 2.63) credit hours and honors students an average of 16.53 (SD = 1.81) credit hours. No other significant demographic differences were observed. Our findings did not show significant differences within populations, but rather, that honors students likely encounter stress and engage in risk behaviors just as much as non-honors students.

Perfectionism is a transdiagnostic process implicated in several disorders, and is defined in the literature as having standards of performance that are excessively high and often unrealistic, rigidly pursuing these standards, and subsequently measuring one’s own self-worth on their ability to meet these self-set standards (Egan et al., 2011). Perfectionism is related to many negative outcomes for physical and mental health, warranting the need to identify effective treatments that are accessible to individuals experiencing clinical perfectionism. There is a growing need for discrete, single session therapeutic interventions, and research has found that patients who were provided with a brief intervention exhibited accelerated rates of change, compared to patients whose treatment was longer (Baldwin et al., 2009; Kroska, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 90-minute, single-session ACT intervention targeting psychological flexibility for perfectionistic beliefs and behaviors on perfectionism, psychological distress, and well-being utilizing a multiple baseline across participants experimental design. Four individuals completed the following self-report measures at each time point: the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Inventory (PPFI), the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI), the Frost Multi-Dimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 item (DASS-21), and the Flourishing Scale (FS). These measures were completed once per week for the five-week baseline period. After baseline, participant engaged in a 90-minute single-session ACT intervention targeting the development of psychological flexibility. For follow-up, participants completed the same measures twice a week for four weeks. Researchers hypothesized that the intervention would increase psychological flexibility, flourishing, self-compassion, and progress towards an idiographic goal, and decrease perfectionism, psychological inflexibility, and psychological distress post-intervention compared to the baseline assessment. A TAR trend analysis was conducted, and Bayes Factors were computed for each individual for each outcome variable to examine within-participant results. A between-case standardized mean difference effect size for SCED was calculated for each outcome variable to examine the results across participants, resulting in a d-statistic. Within participants, while two individuals completed the study with perfectionistic concerns scores below cut offs, this outcome did not change significantly from baseline, with greater evidence for a null effect on this outcome variable for most participants. However, there was evidence for treatment effects for decreasing perfectionistic strivings, psychological distress, and psychological inflexibility and increasing psychological flexibility and flourishing. Across participants, the intervention demonstrated small to large effect sizes. There were small effects on perfectionistic concerns, perfectionistic strivings, psychological distress, and psychological flexibility towards an individual goal. There were medium effects for psychological flexibility and flourishing. Large effects were demonstrated for psychological inflexibility and self-compassion. Overall, the results demonstrate promising evidence for increasing well-being within the context of clinical perfectionism using a single session intervention.

In Christianity, there are two major perspectives of how one attains eternal life: by faith in Jesus Christ alone, or by necessary additional works/ordinances, such as baptism, or obedience to commandments. Though beliefs about salvation may reasonably be thought to have an influence on mental health and behavior, research on the subject has been slow to accumulate. This project examined the association between beliefs about salvation and mental health, as well as whether this association is mediated by other variables, including Religious Involvement, Scrupulosity, and Perfectionism. A sample of 1,556 Protestants/Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints (who generally hold distinct views about salvation) completed a survey assessing beliefs about salvation and other religious and mental health variables (including Well-Being, Anxiety, and Depression). A scale assessing beliefs about salvation was generated for use with this sample and evaluated by exploratory factor analysis. A correlation matrix indicated beliefs about salvation did not have significant relationships with most variables, with the exception of religious Legalism (negative correlation with Faith, positive correlation with Works). This broadly contradicts theoretical data suggesting potential deficits due to beliefs about salvation by faith alone (e.g., lack of religious involvement) or by additional works (e.g., higher perfectionism). A mediation model was also tested, showing significant path strength between Faith/Works and Legalism; other significant paths were observed between the mediating variables and mental health variables (especially Spiritual Transcendence and Well-Being). Implications for future research on the cognitive dimension of religion are discussed.

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University students with increased rates of reported perfectionism, anxiety, and depression, are vulnerable to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, not all students with psychological distress engage in NSSI, suggesting protective factors may help to mitigate this risk. The present study examined the relation between perfectionism and NSSI, via the mediating effects of anxiety and depression, and the moderating role of self-compassion. Participants were 338 university students (67% female; 87% White) who completed several self-report measures. Students with greater perfectionism reported higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms and, in turn, more NSSI engagement. Self-compassion and several self-compassionate domains attenuated connections between perfectionism and psychopathology and between depression and NSSI; conversely, non-self-compassionate domains strengthened associations between perfectionism and psychopathology. Addressing NSSI risk factors (e.g., perfectionism and psychopathology) and fostering self-compassion may reduce the risk of heightened anxiety and depression among perfectionists, consequently reducing their likelihood of NSSI engagement.