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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.

This chapter describes the efforts of several researchers to understand, define, and measure the construct of perfectionism. It focuses initially on the early development of the Almost Perfect Scale (APS), which was designed to measure the components of perfectionism. The chapter reports data on initial studies on the APS as well as data that led to the reconsideration and eventual revision of the scale to produce the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001). It presents the revision procedures and current studies on the APS-R, along with some of the clinical implications derived from the research, and it concludes by outlining some possible directions for future research.

In this study of the discriminant, convergent, and incremental validity of the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), university students completed the APS-R, additional measures of perfectionism, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-Form S, and measures of self-esteem and depression. The results revealed expected significant, but not completely overlapping, associations between the APS-R Discrepancy subscale scores and the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM) dimension of Neuroticism, and between the APS-R High Standards and Order subscales and the FFM dimension of Conscientiousness. The incremental validity of APS-R scores over FFM dimensions was supported in analyses of self-esteem but not depression. The implications of these findings for further psychometric and clinical studies of perfectionism and facets of FFM dimensions are discussed.