A critical examination of the construct of perfectionism and its relationship to mental health in Asian and African Americans using a cross-cultural framework

Measures of Perfectionism

“…There is an impressive number of articles on aspects of perfectionism that have arisen from countries such as China and Japan, and research is beginning to address the nature of perfectionism from a cross-cultural perspective (see DiBartolo & Rendó n, 2012). What seems particularly lacking is the kind of exemplary cross-cultural work evaluating other constructs that involves samples from multiple countries in the same study.…”

Why not the best? Social anxiety symptoms and perfectionism among Israeli Jews and Arabs: a comparative Study

“…An interesting finding was that while the IJ group received lower scores on parental expectations and on parental criticism, their perfectionism tendencies were more related to their social anxiety than in the IA group, and this was reflected by the higher correlations and by the regression results in the IJ group. We believe that this is related to their individualistic culture that pushes towards achievements and mandatory success, in contrast to the Arab collectivistic culture, where achievements are also wished for, but where collectivistic features provide support against social criticism and immunize them from a sense of failure when they are less than perfect, thereby decreasing the linkage between pressure for achievements and anxiety [24].…”

“…Based on findings of Alesina & La Ferrara [21], minorities are less likely to trust others, and more so women minorities [22,23]. The Arab youth's high aspirations that also result from their minority status [24], could cause high anxiety, and family pressures could cause anxiety and perfectionist strivings. Arab females are brought up in an orthodox atmosphere and might display more anxiety and perfectionism.…”

“…DiBartolo & Rendon [24] described two pathways to studying and comparing across cultures or ethnicities within a culture. The structure-oriented approach explores whether there are ethnic differences in patterns of relationships among variables, whereas the level-oriented approach examines cultural differences in the absolute levels of relevant psychological variables.…”

“…A recent literature review on the subject of perfectionism across ethnic groups [24] used extant research to examine whether there is cultural and conceptual equivalence of the perfectionism construct in form, intensity, and function across ethnic groups. DiBartolo & Rendon [24] described two pathways to studying and comparing across cultures or ethnicities within a culture.…”