Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality construct that has been linked with various forms of maladjustment. In this article, we discuss the role of perfectionism as a maladaptive factor in sports and exercise, and we describe a phenomenon we identify as the perfectionism paradox. We note that even though certain sports require athletes to achieve perfect performance outcomes, the tenden...

Numerous authors reported a prevalence of perfectionism in gifted populations. In addition, an unhealthy form of perfectionism that leads to anxiety disorder has been described. Using self-report measures (CAPS and R-CMAS) with 132 children, we hypothesized that intellectually gifted children express a higher level of perfectionism and anxiety. Our results pointed out a paradox: the gifted grou...

Recently, perfectionism has become a focus of attention in applied psychology. In athletic populations, both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism have been found to exist (Terry-Short et al., 1995) but little research has been done on the relationships between perfectionistic tendencies and mood states in athletes. By furthering our understanding of potential relationships between perfectioni...

The literature examining the relation between perfectionism and eating disorders was reviewed and content and methodological comparisons were made with the perfectionism literature in anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. A PsychInfo search using the key words "perfectionism/perfect/perfectionistic," "anorexia," "bulimia," and "eating disorders" was performed and the generated list of pap...

BACKGROUND Society expects physicians to perform perfectly but high levels of perfectionism are associated with symptoms of distress in medical students. This study investigated whether medical students admitted to medical school by different selection criteria differ in the occurrence of perfectionism. METHODS Newly enrolled undergraduate medical students (n = 358) filled out the following i...

BACKGROUND Perfectionism may be a premorbid risk factor for eating disorders. Evidence of familial transmission suggests features of perfectionism may be genetically determined. This study examines the structure of perfectionism using classical twin design models. METHODS Independent (IP) and common (CP) pathway models are used to investigate the extent to which genetic and environmental fact...

This work represents the first review paper to explore the relationship between perfectionistic personality and borderline personality organization. The developmental origins, identity diffusion, interpersonal difficulties, and defense mechanisms that are common to both borderline personality and the interpersonal components of perfectionism are explored, and existing research on perfectionism ...

Despite the growing evidence that perfectionism is associated with adolescent psychological distress, few studies have investigated this relationship prospectively with measures designed for use in adolescent populations. In the present study, within a diathesis-stress framework, we investigated the extent to which perfectionism and acute life stress predict depression, anxiety and self-harm am...

OBJECTIVE To examine childhood perfectionism in anorexia nervosa (AN) restricting (RAN), purging (PAN), and binge eating with or without purging (BAN) subtypes. METHOD The EATATE, a retrospective assessment of childhood perfectionism, and the eating disorder inventory (EDI-2) were administered to 728 AN participants. RESULTS EATATE responses revealed general childhood perfectionism, 22.3% o...

This study investigated an integrative model involving the relationship between perfectionism (P.L. Hewitt & G.L. Flett, 1991) and coping (C.S. Carver, M.F. Scheier, & J.K. Weintraub, 1989) to predict changes in hopelessness and general psychological distress among college students. Results indicated that changes in psychological wellbeing (4 to 5 weeks later) were predicted by socially prescri...