A hierarchical structural analysis of perfectionism and its relation to other personality characteristics

This study examined components of perfectionism and their relation to other personality constructs, based on data on the Frost et al. [Frost, R. O., H eimberg, R. G., Holt, C. S., Mattia, J.S., & Neubauer, A. L. (1993). A comp arison of two measures of perfectionism. Personality and Individual Differe nces, 14, 119-126; Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. ( 1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 15, 245-261] Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), the Rosenberg Self-Es teem Scale, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in a population of academically talented st udents. The six scales of the MPS had been well recovered factor-analytical ly before. On a somewhat higher level of generality, four intercorrelated f actors, Concerns and Doubts, Personal Standards, Organization and Parental Pressure were found to underlie self description on the MPS. This finding w as consistent with previous observations. Two orthogonal higher-order facto rs were extracted from the intercorrelations of these four dimensions. Thes e two factors could be clearly interpreted as healthy and unhealthy perfect ionism; similar factors had been observed before in analyses of the scale s cores on the MPS. This hierarchical structure of four first-order and two s econd-order factors could be well replicated in a second sample of subjects . The various factors on both levels showed distinct patterns of correlatio ns with a large range of personality characteristics as measured by the oth er questionnaires mentioned above. In particular, healthy perfectionism was correlated with conscientiousness, unhealthy perfectionism with lack of se lf-esteem. Given this pattern of correlations, healthy and unhealthy perfec tionism appear not to be opposite poles of one continuum, but distinct, ind ependent factors, which are embedded in the overall personality in differen t ways. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.