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The Impostor Phenomenon can be described as the tendency to attribute professional success not to one’s own abilities but to excessive effort or fortunate external circumstances. Individuals strongly experiencing those tendencies fear that one day they will be exposed as “impostors” as soon as their alleged incompetence can no longer be concealed. Typical characteristics of the Impostor Phenomenon outlined by Clance (1985) show a remarkable conceptual similarity to the personality construct of perfectionism. Thus, the present study aimed at investigating how the Impostor Phenomenon is related to various facets of dispositional perfectionism with respect to predominant conceptualizations of perfectionism by Frost et al. (1990), Hewitt and Flett (1991), as well as their combination within the bifactor model of Perfectionistic Strivings and Perfectionistic Concerns (Frost et al. 1993). A total of N = 274 individuals participated in an online survey including the Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; Clance 1988), the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost et al. 1990), and the Hewitt und Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS short form; Hewitt et al. 2008). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine the differential contributions of perfectionism dimensions and factors in predicting the Impostor Phenomenon. The perfectionism dimensions Doubts about Actions, Concern over Mistakes and Socially prescribed Perfectionism appeared to be efficient predictors of the Impostor Phenomenon. Contrary to Perfectionistic Strivings, Perfectionistic Concerns as a maladaptive perfectionism factor strongly contributed to the prediction of the Impostor Phenomenon. Theoretical and practical implications of the associations between the Impostor Phenomenon and multidimensional perfectionism are discussed.

Perfectionism is frequently noted in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and some data suggest that treatment outcomes with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are poorer for OCD patients with higher levels of perfectionism. However, this literature includes inconsistent findings and has thus far been limited to outpatient samples. Existing studies have also not utilized measures of perfectionism in-line with the multidimensional nature of this construct, which includes both adaptive and maladaptive forms of perfectionism. This study administered measures of multidimensional perfectionism and OCD severity at admission and discharge in a large sample (N = 154) of adult OCD patients undergoing intensive residential treatment (IRT). Results indicated that more perfectionistic patients had slightly longer treatment duration. Adjusting for treatment duration and baseline severity, pre-treatment perfectionism did not significantly predict OCD outcomes. However, all domains of perfectionism significantly improved following treatment, and changes in perfectionism significantly predicted OCD outcomes. In particular, greater reduction in maladaptive perfectionism uniquely predicted better OCD symptom outcomes. These results suggest that high initial levels of perfectionism may not prevent OCD patients from benefitting from IRT, and that reduction in perfectionism significantly accounts for OCD treatment gains. Limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.

There are different views on whether perfectionism is a characteristic of intellectually gifted students. Over the last decades, comparative studies of intellectually gifted and non-gifted students have produced inconsistent results. This heterogeneity in findings might be explained by underpowered studies and the multidimensional nature of perfectionism, comprising two broader dimensions: perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings. Whereas perfectionistic concerns are clearly maladaptive, perfectionistic strivings frequently positively relate to academic and psychological adjustment. We meta-analytically aggregated 32 effect sizes from 10 comparative studies (N=4340) to investigate to what extent intellectually gifted and non-gifted students differ in perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings. Intellectually gifted students displayed equal levels of perfectionistic concerns compared to non-gifted students (g=−0.117, 95% CI [−0.337, 0.103], p=.252) but displayed elevated levels of perfectionistic strivings (g=0.332, 95% CI [0.092, 0.572], p=.012). The magnitude of the effect sizes indicates that perfectionism is not a core characteristic of giftedness. In particular, giftedness is not related to inherently maladaptive forms of perfectionism.

The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) is one of the most popular questionnaires for measuring perfectionism. Although this scale is in common use, its psychometric parameters still remain in dispute. The aim of this article is to present the Polish adaptation of the FMPS in a non-clinical sample. 696 university students aged 18 to 42 (M = 26.74, SD = 7.56) took part in the study. Confirmatory Factor Analyses suggested that the most appropriate factor structure of the adapted version of the FMPS contains 5 correlated factors: CM (concerns over mistakes), DAA (doubts about actions), PE (parental expectations), PC (parental criticism), and PS (personal standards). The ORG (organization) subscale was removed after evaluation. The evaluation of the specific relationships of each dimension of the adapted version of the FMPS with shame, guilt, worry, rumination, and indecisiveness revealed that when controlling for the variances of the remaining dimensions, significant relationships occurred almost only in the case of the CM, DAA and PS scales, suggesting that they constitute the three core facets of perfectionism as measured by the FMPS.

The current study examined the associations among dimensions of perfectionism, facets of stress reactivity, and self-reported depressive symptoms in 191 university students. Participants completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS), and a measure of depressive symptoms. The PSRS is a relatively new instrument that measures several distinguishable facets of stress reactivity including prolonged stress reactivity, reactivity to failure, and reactivity to social evaluation. Analyses confirmed that most of the perfectionism measures were associated with stress reactivity to failure experiences. Socially prescribed perfectionism and perfectionistic automatic thoughts were also associated with prolonged stress reactivity and reactivity to social evaluation. Moreover, all facets of stress reactivity were correlated with depressive symptoms. Finally, prolonged stress reactivity and reactivity to social evaluation mediated the links between perfectionism dimensions and depressive symptoms. The current findings provide general support for models of perfectionism and stress, and suggest that perfectionists have heightened sensitivities to stressors related to their self-definitions that are activated when threatening stressors involving these themes are experienced.

Examined the role of positive striving and evaluative concerns, two dimensions of perfectionism, on goal setting behavior subsequent to success and failure feedback. Ninety-six female undergraduates completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale and then participated in 5 trials of a computer game. Participants were randomized to a success or failure feedback condition. After controlling for baseline depressive symptoms, participants high in positive striving and low in evaluative concerns gradually increased their goal setting over time, regardless of type of feedback. In contrast, participants high in evaluative concerns and low in positive striving increased their goal setting after success feedback and decreased their goal setting after failure feedback. These patterns became more pronounced over time.

This study investigated relationships between perfectionism and psychological distress in a sample of first year college students further divided between those who were enrolled in an honors curriculum (n = 60) and those who were not (n = 53). Participants completed the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (PCI), the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), and the profile of mood states (POMS) at the start of the semester and then again 6 weeks later. Results revealed that one dimension of the MPS—maladaptive evaluative concerns (EC)—was positively associated with tension-anxiety and depression-dejection scores, while a second factor—pure personal standards (PS)—was negatively related to distress after extraneous variance was removed. Perfectionism cognitions as measured by the PCI either fully or partially mediated most relationships. Honors students reported higher personal standards than did controls, a difference that was consistent at 6-week follow-up.

The current research examined the associations among perfectionistic automatic thoughts, trait perfectionism, negative automatic thoughts, and bulimic automatic thoughts. A non-clinical sample of 94 undergraduate women completed the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Bulimic Automatic Thoughts Test. Correlational tests revealed that two automatic thoughts measures (perfectionistic automatic thoughts and negative automatic thoughts) and two trait perfectionism measures (self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) were associated significantly with bulimic automatic thoughts with the strongest association being between perfectionistic automatic thoughts and bulimic automatic thoughts. Regression analyses showed that perfectionistic thoughts predicted unique variance in bulimic thoughts beyond variance attributable to trait perfectionism and negative automatic thoughts. The findings are discussed in terms of the need to incorporate an explicit focus on perfectionistic automatic thoughts into treatment interventions and conceptual models of perfectionism and eating disorders.

The current study examined links between dimensions of perfectionism, ruminative and distractive coping, and multiple measures of current distress (dysphoria, anxiety, worry, and anger) in 205 university students. A main goal was to test the hypothesis that perfectionism is related to a new measure of the critical maladaptive component of rumination (i.e., ruminative brooding) that is not confounded with symptoms and confirm that both constructs function as non-specific vulnerabilities for emotional distress. Our study revealed numerous significant findings, including: (1) socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) was the dimension most strongly related to brooding in response to depression and anxiety; (2) SPP, self-oriented perfectionism (SOP), and brooding predicted various indices of distress; (3) SOP predicted anxiety and worry in women, and it predicted dysphoria and anger in men; (4) despite the strong associations between ruminative brooding and distress, perfectionism still accounted for unique variance in distress, and vice-versa. Implications for the issue of the adaptiveness versus maladaptiveness of perfectionism and for counseling perfectionists who fall into the “brooding trap” are discussed.

This study investigated links between three forms of perfectionism and beliefs associated with fear of failure (FF). College students (N = 372) enrolled in physical activity classes completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory in a single session. After controlling for other forms of perfectionism, only socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) was strongly associated with beliefs that failure led to aversive interpersonal consequences (i.e., important others losing interest, upsetting important others). Other-oriented perfectionism (OOP) exhibited a weak negative relation with beliefs that failure would lead to devaluation of one’s self-estimate; individuals who held the highest standards for others’ behavior had the weakest beliefs that failure would lead to them devaluing their self-estimate. Self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) was not associated with any beliefs that failure led to aversive consequences; however, when SOP and OOP were simultaneously elevated, they contributed positively to fears of experiencing shame and embarrassment (above and beyond main effects of SPP). Collectively these findings indicated that FF was not ubiquitous with all forms of perfectionism because the specific beliefs about the consequences of failure that underlie different forms of perfectionism varied tremendously.

The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between attachment styles and maladaptive eating practices, and to determine whether the relationship was mediated by perfectionism. Attachment style, perfectionism and body image dissatisfaction have been examined separately in previous studies but the relationship with maladaptive eating practices has not been explored in community samples. The current study investigated whether perfectionistic tendencies mediated the relationship between attachment style and maladaptive eating practices. A total of 131 community individuals completed the following scales: Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R), Frost's Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), and the Maladaptive Eating Practices Questionnaire (MEPQ). Consistent with the research hypotheses, hierarchical regression established that maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and maladaptive eating practices. In addition, maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and maladaptive eating practices. Adaptive perfectionism also mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and maladaptive eating practices but not between attachment avoidance and maladaptive eating practices. These findings suggest that perfectionistic tendencies whether ‘maladaptive’ or ‘adaptive’ act as an explanatory mechanism linking attachment style to maladaptive eating practices. Recommendations for professional practice and future research are suggested.

Objective: Several theorists have hypothesized that stressful situations may trigger abnormal eating and even eating disorders in predisposed people. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a stressful situation would reveal an association between perfectionism and low self-esteem, and measures of eating disorder symptoms in male high school students. Method: A sample of 61 male high school students completed the Eating Disorder Inventory, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Self Liking and Competence Scale three times: on an average school day, on the day of an exam and on the day the subjects received the results of that exam. Linear regression analysis was carried out to verify whether the dimensions of perfectionism were associated with the measures of eat- ing disorders. Results: Interoceptive awareness was associated with 'Bulimia' only during the stressful situation and with 'Drive for thinness' both in stress and non stress situations. Other results were contradictory and difficult to interpret. Discussion: The results suggest that in nonclinical male individuals stress might bring out a previously absent association between some psychological predisposing factors for eating disorders and an actual desire or plan for ED related thoughts and behaviours. Such a finding suggests that stress may stimulate behaviours related to eating disorders in a predisposed personality. A central role may be played by interoceptive awareness in male subjects.

Understanding comorbidity is an important challenge for psychopathology researchers and diagnostic systems given the repeated finding of very high comorbidity rates among Axis I disorders in psychiatric samples. This paper proposes that perfectionism may be a critical factor for understanding levels of comorbidity, and a conceptual argument for the importance of perfectionism as an explanatory construct for comorbidity is advanced. The link between perfectionism and comorbidity in a large sample of patients (N = 345) who attended an anxiety disorders clinic is examined using a variety of methods. Diagnoses were established using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV), and perfectionism was assessed using both the Hewitt and Flett and Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scales. Overall, scores on both the Hewitt and Flett and Frost perfectionism scales were correlated with the number of diagnoses, and a logistic regression analysis, controlling for current symptoms, showed that maladaptive evaluative concerns perfectionism in particular predicted higher levels of comorbidity.

The current research investigated the associations among dimensions of perfectionism, unconditional self-acceptance, and self-reported depression. A sample of 94 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire, and a self-report depression measure. Correlational results indicated that all three trait dimensions of perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism) were associated negatively with unconditional self-acceptance. Also, as expected, depression was associated with relatively low unconditional self-acceptance. Finally, a path analysis revealed that unconditional self-acceptance mediated the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and depression, and other-oriented perfectionism was found to affect depression only indirectly through its association with low levels of self-acceptance. The findings indicate that perfectionists evaluate themselves in terms of a contingent sense of self-worth, and as such, they are vulnerable to psychological distress when they experience negative events that do not affirm their self-worth.

Two studies examined the extent to which dimensions of perfectionism are associated with indices of relationship beliefs, behaviors, and dyadic adjustment. In Study 1, 69 students in dating relationships completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and a multidimensional measure of relationship beliefs. In addition, partici-pants completed self-report measures of positive and negative relationship behaviors, and global measures of liking and loving. In Study 2, 91 students in dating relation-ships completed a battery of measures including the MPS and scales assessing perfec-tionism cognitions and perfectionistic self presentation. They also completed mea-sures of dyadic adjustment and limerence (i.e., intense, obsessive low with fears of rejection). Collectively, the findings indicated that individuals with high levels of self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism have stronger relationship beliefs in the areas of communication, trust, and support, suggesting that these perfec-tionists have high relationship standards in these particular areas. Although social prescribed perfectionism had little association with specific relationship beliefs, so-cially prescribed perfectionism was associated with a tendency to display destructive relationship responses (i.e., exit, neglect, and insensitivity), lower dyadic adjustment, and various aspects of limerence, including obsessive preoccupations and emotional dependence on the dating partner. Perfectionistic self-presentation and perfectionism cognitions were also linked with aspects of limerence. The results suggest that inter-personal aspects of perfectionism are associated with self-defeating tendencies in dating relationships.

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), developed by Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate (1990), was constructed using an all female sample at an elite university. This study examined the psychometric properties of the instrument using a more typical sample (n=278) of college students from a large state university and a small liberal arts college, both located in the South. Significant differences were found on the overall MPS score as well as six of the seven subscales between this sample and that of Frostet al. No gender differences were found for any of the MPS scores. Internal reliability was found to be .88 for the total score, with subtests ranging from .57 to .95. Interscore correlations were relatively consistent with the Frostet al. sample except for a negative correlation between the PS subscale and the total score. There was a strong confirmation of the underlying factor structure reported by Frostet al. The overall impression was that the MPS is a psychometrically sound instrument of potential value in studying the construct of perfectionism.

Two studies were conducted to examine the relation between dimensions of perfectionsim and suicide ideation: whether perfectionism is important in suicide ideation when considered in the context of other predictors of suicide (i.e., depression, hopelessness), and whether perfectionism moderates the association between life stress and suicide ideation. Samples of 91 psychiatric patients (Study 1) and 160 college students (Study 2) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Scale For Suicide Ideation. The subjects in Study 2 also completed a measure of negative life stress. Overall, the results confirmed that self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism are associated with greater suicide ideation. Moreover, these two perfectionism dimensions contributed uniquely to the discrimination of suicide groups and both moderated the link between life stress and suicide ideation. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical and theoretical implications.

The present study examined perfectionism and general coping ability as assessed by a new measure of constructive thinking. A sample of 77 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI). The MPS provides measures of selforiented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism, while the CTI provides various measures, including summary scores of global constructive thinking, emotional coping, behavioral coping, categorical thinking, personal superstitious thinking, naive optimism, and esoteric thinking. Subjects also completed a measure of depressive symptoms so that we could examine perfectionism and coping independent of current levels of adjustment. The main finding was that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with less constructive thinking and more negative coping across most of the CTI subscales, and these associations remained significant after removing variance due to levels of depression symptoms. Self-oriented perfectionism was adaptive in that it was associated with active forms of behavioral coping, but it was maladaptive in that it was associated with a form of emotional coping involving reduced self-acceptance. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the cognitive treatment of perfectionists.This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in: Flett, G. L., Russo, F. A., & Hewitt, P. L. (1994). Dimensions of perfectionism and constructive thinking as a coping response. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 12(3), 163-179. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02354594

The present research tested the hypothesis that personal and social aspects of the perfectionism construct are related differentially to indices of personality disorders. A sample of 90 psychiatric patients was examined with respect to their scores on the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the personality disorder subscales (PDS) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The MPS provides measures of self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism, whereas the PDS assess levels of various personality disorder symptoms. Zero-order and partial correlations indicated that the perfectionism dimensions of the MPS were related to various subscales of the PDS and, perhaps more importantly, that the findings vary as a function of the perfectionism dimension in question. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of perfectionism in personality disorder symptom patterns.

Several authors have suggested that perfectionism is associated with irrational thinking. The purpose of the present research was to test the hypothesis that various dimensions of perfectionism are related significantly to core irrational beliefs. In Study 1, 102 subjects completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT). The MPS provides assessments of self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Analyses revealed that self-oriented perfectionism was correlated positively with the IBT high self-expectations and perfect solutions subscales. Socially prescribed perfectionism was correlated significantly with a variety of irrational beliefs including high self-expectations, demand for social approval, dependency, blame proneness, and anxious overconcern. Other-oriented perfectionism was correlated with few irrational beliefs. In Study 2, 130 subjects completed the MPS and the Survey of Personal Beliefs, a new measure of core irrational beliefs. Analyses confirmed that all three perfectionism dimensions were associated with core irrational beliefs. It is concluded that the results constitute general support for the hypothesis that cognitive aspects are important in both personal and social components of perfectionism and that perfectionists are characterized by increased levels of irrational beliefs that may contribute to maladjustment. The findings are discussed in terms of the associations among perfectionism, irrational beliefs, and maladjustment.