Psychometric Evidence of the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) in Brazil

Abstract

Perfectionism can be understood as a personality trait that establishes excessively high standards for the performance of individuals and ostensibly critical self-evaluations. It is associated with a range of variables, such as anxiety, suicidal tendencies, depression, and low satisfaction with life. The Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) overcame some limitations of previous measures (e.g., ambiguity, nonnecessary factors). In the present research, we provide psychometric evidence of the adequacy of the SAPS in Brazil. The original two-factor structure was replicated. The items showed good discrimination, level of difficulty, and informativeness for the overall measure. The SAPS also presented acceptable reliability levels, full measurement invariance across participants’ gender, and partial invariance across countries (Brazil and the United States). Finally, perfectionism was meaningfully associated with personality traits and human values. In sum, our findings suggest that the SAPS is psychometrically adequate for further use in Brazil.

The Almost Perfect Scale in medical students: factor analysis, measurement invariance, and profile analysis

“…Examination of the SAPS indicated that a two-factor model held for medical students, and this scale was utilized for all subsequent examinations. This finding in favor of SAPS is consistent with findings in other populations (Rice et al, 2014;Kira et al, 2018;de Holanda et al, 2021), and suggests that the SAPS is likely preferred in the medical student population.…”

“…Most validity studies of the APS have been completed in convenience samples of university students in psychology classes, which resulted in female-predominant samples. MI results have been mixed by gender, with most studies supporting invariance (Rice et al, 2014;Kira et al, 2018;de Holanda et al, 2021), while a few have indicated at least partial non-invariance at the scalar (intercept) level (Rice et al, 2019). In our population, indeterminate measurement invariance results suggest that any measured mean differences in perfectionism by gender may result from the ways groups perceive perfectionism or reacted to the scale questions, rather than actual differences in the mean levels of perfectionism, and that future work is needed to confirm MI by gender in this population.…”

“…Beginning with within-network validity, we first utilize confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine the factor structure of the APS-R and SAPS in medical students and provide evidence regarding whether APS-R or SAPS can be used to measure perfectionism in this population. Second, as gender has been found to be an important factor in medical student depression and wellness (Dahlin et al, 2005;Fukushima et al, 2020), we utilize measurement invariance (MI) to evaluate whether the APS measures perfectionism equivalently for men and women students. And, if MI is violated, differential item functioning (DIF) is conducted to identify specific items that may contribute to the violation.…”

Test Anxiety and Perfectionism

“…If they have high Standards but Discrepancy is less than 3.5, they might be what we called "adaptive" perfectionists. (K. Rice, personal communication, October 25, 2022) The "Psychometric evidence of the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) in Brazil" psychometric study by Coelho and colleagues of the SAPS used a Brazilian online sample (aged 14-67) and found that the scale is an adequate assessment of perfectionism, for both validity and reliability (Coelho et al, 2021). The SAPS presents a two-factor structure that was replicated in this study for standards and discrepancy perfectionism.…”