Past research has shown that perfectionism, can negatively impact self-esteem. However, the mediating factors that explain this relationship remain unclear. The current study aimed to investigate whether specific cognitive processes, namely, self-critical rumination and associated metacognitions, mediate this relationship. An opportunity sample of 347 participants completed a battery of online questionnaires measuring clinical perfectionism, self-critical rumination, metacognitions about self-critical rumination, self-esteem, and levels of psychological distress. Several hypotheses were tested to examine the associations between the study variables. Following this, a path analysis was used to determine whether the influence of perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic striving on self-esteem is mediated by positive metacognitions about self-critical rumination, self-critical rumination, and negative metacognitions about self-critical rumination, serially. Positive metacognitions about self-critical rumination, self-critical rumination, and negative metacognitions about self-critical rumination partially mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and self-esteem and fully mediated the relationship between perfectionistic striving and self-esteem. These results point towards possible interventions for those who struggle with low self-esteem due to their perfectionistic tendencies. Further investigations should explore additional factors that help to explain why perfectionism impacts self-esteem levels, whilst also addressing the limitations of this current research.

过去的研究表明，完美主义会对自尊产生负面影响。然而，解释这种关系的中介因素仍不清楚。目前的研究旨在调查特定的认知过程，即自我批评反刍和相关的元认知是否介导了这种关系。一个由 347 名参与者组成的机会样本完成了一系列在线问卷，测量临床完美主义、自我批评反刍、关于自我批评反刍的元认知、自尊和心理困扰程度。测试了几个假设以检查研究变量之间的关联。按照此，路径分析用于确定完美主义关注和完美主义努力对自尊的影响是否由关于自我批评反刍、自我批评反刍的积极元认知和关于自我批评反刍的消极元认知连续调节。自我批评反刍的正面元认知、自我批评反刍的负面元认知和自我批评反刍的负面元认知部分中介了完美主义关注与自尊之间的关系，完全中介了完美主义努力与自尊之间的关系。这些结果为那些因完美主义倾向而自卑的人提供了可能的干预措施。