Measuring Maladaptive Perfectionism
Burton, JoAnna; Veazey, Amber; Tingey, Melissa; Green, Kat
Abstract
Perfectionism is a personality trait in which individuals set high standards for themselves that are in line with an ideal image of how they should look, act, and perform. Perfectionism can be both adaptive and maladaptive. Identifying maladaptive perfectionism may aid individuals in consciously overcoming the negative side effects associated with maladaptive perfectionism and help individuals practice an adaptive perfectionism. We hypothesized that our measure, the Maladaptive or Adaptive Personality Scale (MAPS) would reliably and validly indicate and measure the presence of maladaptive perfectionism. Our measure used ten 4-point Likert scale questions measuring behavioral and emotional manifestations of perfectionism. MAPS was administered to a convenience sample of 165 to mostly students at Brigham Young University. Results showed that MAPs had a high internal consistency (? = .80), and a relatively moderate content validity ratio (most items ? .44). Principal component analysis showed most items loaded onto one factor (behavioral manifestations of perfectionism). The measure was highly reliable but may need further research to reassure validity. Overall, MAPS is worth pursuing and may be beneficial in detecting behavioral manifestations of maladaptive perfectionism.