The Effects of Perfectionism and Dispositional Self-focused Attention of Novice Counselor on Psychological Burnout: Moderated Mediating Effects of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies

The current study investigated the mediation effect of self-focused attention on the relationship between South Korean novice counselors’ perfectionism and psychological burnout. We also examined whether cognitive emotion regulation strategies moderated the mediation effect of self-focused attention with a sample of 208 South Korean novice counselors. Moderated mediation was tested with the PROCESS 2.16.3 macro for SPSS and the index of moderated mediation. Bootstrapping analyses were used to examine the mediation effect of self-focus on the relationship between perfectionism and psychological burnout. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was also conducted to examine the moderation of emotion regulation strategies. Findings indicate that self-focused attention partially mediated the relationship between perfectionism and psychological burnout. Moreover, the indirect effect of perfectionism on psychological burnout through self-focused attention varied depending on levels of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. We present implications for counseling and suggestions for future research in an international context.