Perfectionism and time perspectives: An inquiry into the association between perfectionism subtypes and categorical time perspectives

Abstract

The present study investigated the previously unexplored association between the perfectionistic personality dimensions, as defined by the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism, and individual time perspectives. The study tested the relationship between pure self-oriented, pure socially prescribed, mixed and non-perfectionist subtypes and individual time perspectives, using a sample of 129 undergraduate students with a mean age of 19.84 ( SD = 4.60). Participants completed a one-time evaluation using the short versions of the Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scales and of the Zimbardo Time Perspectives Inventory. Following moderated hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the main result was discovering evidence of a close association between present fatalism and perfectionistic subtypes. Furthermore, pure self-oriented perfectionism consistently predicted more adaptive outcomes in terms of time perspectives as compared to non-perfectionism in four out of the five time perspectives, supporting the emerging empirical distinction between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism. The study’s overall results indicate that pure self-oriented perfectionism may hold more adaptive merit than non-perfectionism in the case of time perspectives and that present fatalism may hold a close association with the perfectionistic variable.