Multidimensional perfectionism and academic stress: A study on the chain mediation effect based on cognitive...

In the contemporary Chinese educational context, university students are facing increasingly salient academic pressure. This study aims to examine how Multidimensional Perfectionism influences Academic Stress among Chinese university students through the chain mediating roles of Rumination and Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies, and to test its underlying mechanisms within the framework of cognitive-behavioral theory. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, with questionnaire data collected from 450 students in Chinese higher education institutions. Structural equation modeling was used to test the chain mediation effects. The results indicate that Maladaptive Perfectionism not only directly and positively predicts Academic Stress, but also directly intensifies individuals' Rumination and Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies. The effect of Adaptive Perfectionism on Academic Stress reflects a typical double-edged competitive mechanism. On the one hand, Adaptive Perfectionism exerts a significant negative direct effect, serving a protective role in alleviating Academic Stress. On the other hand, it induces Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies, which in turn generate positive indirect effects on Academic Stress through both a single mediation pathway and a chain mediation pathway, thereby indirectly increasing Academic Stress. These two opposing pathways offset each other, resulting in a non-significant total effect. Adaptive Perfectionism does not directly trigger Rumination. Its effect on Rumination operates only through the mediating role of Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies. This study reveals the inherent ambivalence of Adaptive Perfectionism in academic coping. It provides new theoretical evidence and practical implications for developing more targeted mental health interventions and academic stress management strategies for university students in contemporary higher education.