Perfectionism in students and employees : predicting stress and intra group relationships

Over the past 20 years, Hewitt and Flett's (1991) tripartite model of perfectionism has been the focus of numerous research studies. Academia and work are two life domains in which perfectionism is most prevalent. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research with samples of students and employees on the longitudinal effects of perfectionism on stress, burnout, and engagement, and on the effects of perfectionism on intragroup relationships in a team-work context. The aims of this thesis were therefore to investigate whether perfectionism longitudinally predicts stress, burnout, and engagement, and to investigate whether perfectionism is associated with intragroup relationships in a team-work context. To this end, I conducted six studies. In Study 1, 76 students completed measures of perfectionism, the Big Five, burnout, and engagement twice over four months. In Study 2, 69 employees completed measures of perfectionism, stress, and burnout twice over six months. In Study 3, 195 teachers completed measures of perfectionism, stress, burnout, and engagement twice over three months. In Study 4, 147 students completed a measure of perfectionism and then responded to a vignette about working with a hypothetical partner who was described as a perfectionist. In Study 5, 110 students working on team projects completed measures of perfectionism, cohesion, and engagement. And in Study 6, 149 employees, nested within teams, completed measures of perfectionism, cohesion, and stress. Across studies, socially prescribed perfectionism consistently predicted higher levels of stress and burnout longitudinally, and it was also associated with positive and negative intragroup relationships. In comparison, self-oriented perfectionism was associated with positive intragroup relationships, and other-oriented perfectionism was associated with positive and negative intragroup relationships. The findings suggest that students and employees who strive for exceedingly high standards experience increasing levels of stress and burnout which may harm their future psychological adjustment.