Abstract
Perfectionism is a multidimensional personality trait that may covary with both negative and positive indices of mental health. Different components of perfectionism might be associated in different ways with positive and negative aspects of mental health. However, past studies tended to focus only on one covariate at a time. This study aimed to test the association between domains of perfectionism to both positive (self-esteem, wellbeing) and negative mental health indices (narcissism and psychological distress) while testing the structural validity of the Short Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale in a large non-English speaking community-based sample in Hungary. A total of 4,340 participants (49.3% male) took part in an online survey that included Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, World Health Organization Wellbeing Index-5, and parts of Brief Symptoms Inventory-18. Using structural equation modelling analyses, we confirmed the three-dimensional model of perfectionism in our community sample. In the multivariate analyses, all perfectionism factors were related to narcissism. Furthermore, only socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with low self-esteem and lower wellbeing; however, both socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism were associated with higher psychological distress. Our findings supported the notion that different domains of perfectionism correlate to mental health indices differently, indicating that socially prescribed perfectionism may be the harmful component of perfectionism.
Highlights
Perfectionism is a personality dimension characterised by a constant striving for excessively high standards or flawless performance and often accompanied by over concern about evaluations of the behaviour (Frost et al, 1990; Hewitt et al, 1991)
A confirmatory factor analysis using a maximum likelihood estimation which is robust to the deviation from the normal distribution (MLR) showed that the three-factor model had close to adequate model fit (χ2=1821, df = 87, p < 0.001, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.07, SRMR = 0.06, and comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.89)
We demonstrated that the factor structure of the Hungarian version of shorter Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (SMPS) is invariant in men and women
Summary
Perfectionism is a personality dimension characterised by a constant striving for excessively high standards or flawless performance and often accompanied by over concern about evaluations of the behaviour (Frost et al, 1990; Hewitt et al, 1991). Perfectionism has been linked to an increased risk of behavioural addiction problems such as exercise addiction (González-Hernández et al, 2021), problematic internet use (Casale et al, 2014), and work addiction (Kun et al, 2021) The strength of these associations ranged between weak and moderate sizes. Perfectionist researchers focused mainly on a characteristic of perfectionism that revolves around overvaluing achievement and setting exceedingly high personal standards that are usually accompanied by irrational beliefs or attitudes at the expense of other things (Hill, 2016). The third domain, the other-oriented perfectionism (OOP), refers to setting an unrealistic standard for the performance of significant others
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