Academics' experiences of a respite from work: Effects of self-critical perfectionism and perseverative cognition on postrespite well-being.
Abstract
This longitudinal study examined relations between personality and cognitive vulnerabilities and the outcomes of a respite from work. A sample of 77 academic employees responded to week-level measures of affective well-being before, during, and on 2 occasions after an Easter respite. When academics were classified as being either high or low in a self-critical form of perfectionism (doubts about actions), a divergent pattern of respite to postrespite effects was revealed. Specifically, during the respite, the 2 groups of academics experienced similar levels of well-being. However, during postrespite working weeks, the more perfectionistic academics reported significantly higher levels of fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and anxiety. The greater deterioration in well-being experienced by perfectionist academics when first returning to work was mediated by their tendency for perseverative cognition (i.e., worry and rumination) about work during the respite itself. These findings support the view that the self-critical perfectionist vulnerability is activated by direct exposure to achievement-related stressors and manifested through perseverative modes of thinking.
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Worry and rumination are established drivers of poor well-being and burnout in working populations.
“Finally, we were interested in testing whether these variables together explain unique variance in addition to more established drivers of poor well-being and burnout in working populations, such as worry and rumination (Brosschot et al., 2006; Flaxman et al., 2012; O'Connor et al., 2021, 2013).”
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- Authors
- Flaxman, P. E., Ménard, J., Bond, F. W., & Kinman, G.
- Affiliations
- City, University of London (GB)
- Goldsmiths University of London (GB)
- University of Bedfordshire (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Published
- 2012-07
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 854-865
- ISSN
- 0021-9010 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1854
- OpenAlex
- W2019180260
- Cited by
- 162
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 6.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- City Research Online (City University London) (acceptedVersion)
- University of Bedfordshire Repository (University of Bedfordshire) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- City University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Workaholism, burnout, and well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- self-critical perfectionism, perseverative cognition, rumination, worry, university faculty, emotional well-being, emotional exhaustion, fatigue, anxiety, return to work
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Cognition, Emotions, Fatigue, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Occupations, Personality, Self Concept, Universities, Workplace
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