Clinical Perfectionism, Dissatisfaction With Standards, and Raising the Bar: Validation of the Response to Goal Achievement Scale.

Abstract

To examine the factor structure and psychometrics of a new self-report scale measuring cognitive and behavioral reactions to goal achievement (Reactions to Goal Achievement Scale; RGAS), and to examine its relationship to other measures of clinical perfectionism in two samples. Self-reported reasons for setting higher standards following successful goal achievement were also examined. The RGAS, Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ) and Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) were administered to a sample on Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 264) and to a sample of overweight individuals (N = 65). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested two factors, entitled dissatisfaction with success (DS) and increase in standards (IS). The RGAS was associated with subscales of the CPQ and FMPS. In addition, participants indicated many reasons for setting higher standards following success. The RGAS is a new instrument for measuring both cognitive and behavioral responses to success in clinical perfectionism. Setting higher standards may not be an indication of perfectionism, as there appear to be many reasons people set higher standards.