Believing that failure is essential: failure-is-enhancing mindset mediates the relationship of perfectionism and academic engagement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective The present study aimed to (1) to determine how the two dimensions of perfectionism – perfectionistic strivings (PS) and evaluative concerns (EC) are associated with academic engagement and (2) to determine if failure mindset mediates the relationship between perfectionism and academic engagement. Method Four hundred and forty-eight Filipino undergraduate students with an average age of 20.91 SD = 2.37participated in the survey. Results The results indicate that PS is positively linked to academic engagement through failure-is-enhancing beliefs. In contrast, EC is associated with lower academic engagement through a reduced failure-is-enhancing mindset. Conclusion This study provides evidence that believing that failure is essential rather than unhelpful is an important factor in predicting academic engagement among perfectionists. Specifically, it was found that having high PS promotes the belief that failures are important in learning, while the opposite pattern was observed among those high in EC. This supports the view that perfectionism has an adaptive and a maladaptive side.