Introduction: Spouse selection criteria in women with type II diabetes are affected by several psychological variables, the most important of which are perfectionism and irrational beliefs. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perfectionism and irrational beliefs regarding the criteria of spouse selection in women with type II diabetes in Mashhad city, Iran.

Methodology: This descriptive, analytical, correlational study was conducted on 275 women with type II diabetes referring to the healthcare centers of Mashhad city, Iran in 2015. Participants were selected via simple random sampling and all of them completed the questionnaires of perfectionism, irrational beliefs, and spouse selection criteria. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V.19 using Pearson’s correlation-coefficient and multivariate regression analysis using the ENTER method.

Results: In this study, positive perfectionism had significant correlations with the content criteria (r=0.37) and process criteria (r=0.29) of spouse selection among women with type II diabetes. However, significant negative correlations were observed between negative perfectionism with content criteria (r=-0.41) and process criteria (r=-0.25), as well as irrational beliefs with content criteria (r=-0.34) and process criteria (r=-0.23). Moreover, positive and negative perfectionism and irrational beliefs could predict 38.4% of the content criteria variance, as well as 29.1% of the process criteria variance of spouse selection, in women with type II diabetes (P<0.01).

Conclusion: Results of this study suggested that family counselors, clinical psychologists, and therapists attempt to improve the content and process criteria of spouse selection in women with type II diabetes through enhancing positive perfectionism and diminishing negative perfectionism and irrational beliefs.