The cost of being perfect: perfectionism and suicide ideation in university students

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between dime nsions of perfectionism and suicide ideation in a tertiary student populati on in Australia. Method: The methodology involved 405 students completing the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) which includes a subset of questions which can be u sed to assess suicide ideation, and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scal e. Results: The presence of suicide ideation was associated with higher scores on total perfectionism and two perfectionism dimensions, and total GHQ sco res. There were significant differences between participants with high leve ls of perfectionism and participants with moderate to low levels of perfect ionism on a measure of suicide ideation. Neither gender nor age were associ ated with differences in the scores, with results indicating high levels of perfectionism may indicate a vulnerability to suicide ideation. Conclusions: Perfectionism is a valued attribute in high-achieving populati ons. The question needs to be asked, however, at what cost? The findings in dicate that high levels of perfectionism may be associated with an increase d vulnerability to suicide ideation. Future research is needed to gain a be tter understanding of the complex interrelationship between personality and temperament, environmental factors and self-destructive behaviour.