The aim of the present master’s thesis was to examine the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, focusing on the mediating roles of self-compassion and emotion regulation difficulties. The study builds upon the theoretical model proposed by Sher et al. (2024) and extends it to a Slovenian sample of adults from the general population. A total of 293 participants completed several self-report questionnaires (APS-R, SCS, DERS, OCI-R, DASS-21). Data were analysed using serial mediation analysis (Hayes, 2018), with anxiety and depression included as covariates. Results indicated that maladaptive perfectionism was negatively associated with self-compassion and positively associated with emotion regulation difficulties and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The indirect effect through self-compassion alone was not significant, whereas the indirect effect through emotion regulation difficulties and the serial indirect effect through both mediators remained significant after controlling for anxiety and depression. These findings support a partial mediation model and highlight self-compassion and emotion regulation as key psychological mechanisms linking perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The results provide important theoretical and practical implications, suggesting that interventions aimed at enhancing self-compassion and emotion regulation skills may serve as effective complementary approaches in preventing and treating obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
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