Each subscale of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) was factor analyzed in an attempt to determine whether perfectionism is best described as a categorical or as a dimensional construct. Relationships with Self-Esteem, Narcissism, Self-Control, and Self-Criticism confirmed the existence of relatively more adaptive and maladaptive elements within each subscale. Parti...

OBJECTIVE Perfectionism has been reported as a specific risk factor for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but not binge eating disorder. This study examined whether these differences are due to differential associations between perfectionism and specific eating disorder behaviors. METHOD Participants (N = 2,482) completed the eating disorders inventory perfectionism scale and a questionna...

The present study investigated the role of parental (adaptive and maladaptive) intrapersonal perfectionism as a predictor of parental psychological control and the role of parents' psychological control in the intergenerational transmission of perfectionism in a sample of female late adolescents and their parents. First, parental maladaptive perfectionism, but not parental adaptive perfectionis...

This study examined a model in which the need for reassurance from others and the capacity for self-reinforcement mediated the relationships between two dimensions of perfectionism (evaluative concerns [EC] perfectionism and personal standards [PS] perfectionism) and anxiety and depression. Results from structural equation modeling of data from 295 college students from a large midwestern unive...

The development of two multidimensional perfectionism measures at the start of the 1990’s facilitated exponential growth in research on perfectionism. Until then, perfectionism had been assessed with unidimensional measures. The Burns Perfectionism Scale came from the depression literature and assessed dysfunctional perfectionistic attitudes (Burns, 1980) and perfectionism was assessed in the e...

Perfectionism has been identified as an antecedent of athlete burnout. However, to date, researchers examining the relationship between perfectionism and athlete burnout have measured perfectionism at a trait level. The work of Flett and colleagues (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, & Gray, 1998) suggests that perfectionism can also be assessed in terms of individual differences in the frequency with ...

Perfectionism is associated with symptoms of anxiety disorders, eating disorders and mood disorders. Treatments targeting perfectionism may reduce the symptoms of these disorders (Egan, Wade, & Shafran, 2011). This study is the first randomised controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for perfectionism. Forty-two participants with elevated perfec...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the role of perfectionism as a phenotypic trait in anorexia nervosa and its relevance across clinical subtypes of this illness. METHOD The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the perfectionism subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory were administered to 322 women with a history of anorexia nervosa who were participating in an internati...

The construct of clinical perfectionism, conceptualized as a one-dimensional construct (Shafran, Cooper, & Fairburn, 2003), has drawn considerable debate because of the associated critique of multidimensional perfectionism’s relevance for clinical theory and research. Hence Dickie, Surgenor, Wilson, and McDowall’s (2012) finding that the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ), designed to m...

Findings from cross-sectional studies on the relationship between perfectionism and the Big Five personality traits demonstrate that conscientiousness shows significant positive correlations with self-oriented perfectionism, and neuroticism with socially prescribed perfectionism. The question is whether conscientiousness and neuroticism also predict longitudinal changes in self-oriented and soc...