Perfectionistic Cognitions and Interleukin‐6: The Moderating Role of Child Maltreatment
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Research is beginning to establish that perfectionism (i.e., the need to be absolutely perfect accompanied by harsh self‐criticism) contributes to poorer health and early mortality. Although few studies have addressed any personality/immune system links, there is growing evidence that personality can influence immune system functioning by altering cytokine production. Yet, to our knowledge, no study has examined the effect of perfectionism on immunological functioning. According to the Perfectionism Diathesis‐Stress Model, the deleterious effects of perfectionism on health should be further exacerbated by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as maltreatment. However, this contention has yet to be tested empirically. The aim of this multidisciplinary research was to test how perfectionism is related to inflammatory analytes and whether these associations were moderated by child maltreatment. This study included a sample of young adults from the Niagara Longitudinal Heart Study (NLHS). Blood samples were collected, and serum was used to analyze levels of various immune biomarkers including Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6). Participants completed a self‐reported questionnaire that included the Childhood Trust Events Survey to identify exposure to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse before 18 years of age. Positive responses were then summed to create a count from 0 to 3 types of exposure. The Perfectionistic Cognitions Inventory assessed perfectionism. Results from multiple regression using Andrew Haye’s Process in which log‐transformed IL‐6 was regressed on perfectionistic cognitions, child maltreatment, and the interaction between perfectionistic cognitions and child maltreatment indicated that the relationship between perfectionistic cognitions and IL‐6 was moderated by child maltreatment. Specifically, higher perfectionistic cognitions were related to higher levels of IL‐6 under conditions of higher maltreatment. In sum, findings indicate that perfectionistic cognitions are related to immune system functioning and specifically to higher levels of IL‐6 when participants have experienced high levels of child maltreatment. These results support the Perfectionism Diathesis‐Stress Model and may provide key insights into both early prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing the toll of perfectionism on health. Support or Funding Information The NLHS is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR #s 363774, 399332). DSM is supported by an Early Researcher Award (Ministry of Research and Innovation, Government of Ontario). ARRM is supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) Program.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".