The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support in the Relationship Between University Students' Perfectionism and Career Stress

Abstract

Career stress is one of the current issues that university students have to deal with. Although there are many reasons, it is stated that perfectionism can be one of the main reasons for the formation of stress. On the other hand, it is supported by the literature that the perception of social support can be a source that can reduce this effect. For such reasons, this study aims to examine the mediating role of perceived social support in the relationship between university students' perfectionism and career stress. A total of 433 university students, 311 (71.8%) female and 122 (28.2%) male, participated in the sample of this study. The measurement tools used to collect data in the study are the ‘Big Three Perfectionism Scale-16'', 'Career Stress Scale' and 'Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support'. The research findings explain that the perfectionist personality traits of the students have a positive and significant effect on career stress. It is also explained that perceived multidimensional social support has a partial mediating role between perfectionism and career stress. The findings of the research were discussed in relation to the literature.