No abstract

Cluster analyses, cross-validated discriminant function analyses, and receiver operating characteristic curves for sensitivity and specificity of APS-R scores were used to derive efficient and straightforward calculations and decision rules for classifying students as perfectionists (and as either adaptive or maladaptive). Convergent validity of the cutoff scores for group membership was supported by expected group differences on other measures of perfectionism. Criterion-related (concurrent) validity of the classification scheme was supported by comparison of groups on measures of depression, life satisfaction, and grade point average. The cutoffs and decision rules should prove useful in applied or future research situations in which differentiation of perfectionists and nonperfectionists is desired.

This study of college students {TV = 464) examined the association between adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism and 2 mental health outcomes (self-esteem and depression). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop and assess the measurement model used in this study. Structural equations modeling was used to test a mediational model derived from prior theory and research. Analyses supported the existence of 2 perfectionism factors. Path models revealed that adaptive perfectionism was not directly or indirectly (through self-esteem) associated with depression. Maladaptive perfectionism was negatively associated with self-esteem and positively associated with depression. Self-esteem also buffered the effects of maladaptive perfectionism on depression. Distinguishing adaptive from maladaptive perfectionism is discussed in the context of recommendations for practice and future research.The construct of perfectionism has been receiving increased attention in the psychological literature in recent years. This attention has most often portrayed perfectionism as a negative or harmful attribute. For example, Pacht (1984) referred to "the insidious nature of perfectionism" (p. 387). More recently Blatt (1995), in an article in the American Psychologist titled "The Destructiveness of Perfectionism: Implications for the Treatment of Depression,'' discussed the suicides of three "talented, ambitious, and successful individuals'* (p. 1005) and attributed them to what he described as "intense perfectionism" (p. 1003). He also suggested that this "intense perfectionism" interfered significantly with clients' responses to brief treatments for depression. His article, with its attributions to the extremely negative effects of perfectionism, is consistent with past anecdotal writing on perfectionism (

1996) yielded 3 clusters that represented adaptive perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, and nonperfectionists. Maladaptive perfectionist scores were strongly correlated with self-critical depression, but not dependent depression. Adaptive perfectionist scores were correlated with higher self-esteem and greater satisfaction with grade point average (GPA). It was hypothesized that satisfaction with GPA would moderate the relationship between cluster membership and GPA, and that participant gender would moderate the relationship between cluster membership and self-esteem. Neither hypothesis was supported. A comparison of the cluster groups from this sample with those in 2 previous samples (K. G. Rice & R. B. Slaney, 2002) indicated similar scores between clusters. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

We created a shorter and more refined item set from the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson, 1996; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) to measure 2 major dimensions of perfectionism: standards (high performance expectations) and discrepancy (self-critical performance evaluations). In Study 1, after testing the internal structure of the measure (N = 749), a subset of the current APS-R items was derived (Short Almost Perfect Scale [SAPS]) that possessed good psychometric features, such as strong item-factor loadings, score reliability, measurement invariance between women and men, and criterion-related validity through associations with neuroticism, conscientiousness, academic performance, and depression. Controlling for neuroticism and conscientiousness, factor mixture modeling supported a 2-factor, 3-class model of perfectionism, and results were consistent with labeling the classes as nonperfectionists and adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists. Measurement results were cross-validated in a separate sample (N = 335). Study 2 also provided substantial evidence for the convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of SAPS scores. Both studies supported the SAPS as a brief and psychometrically strong measure of major perfectionism factors and classes of perfectionists.