How Does Perfectionism Influence the Development of Psychological Strengths and Difficulties in Children?

Silvia Melero, Alexandra Morales, José Pedro Espada, Iván Fernández-Martínez and Mireia Orgilés
Additional contact information
Silvia Melero: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain
Alexandra Morales: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain
José Pedro Espada: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain
Iván Fernández-Martínez: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain
Mireia Orgilés: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: This study aimed to examine differences in gender, age, and psychopathology, according to the perfectionism level, and to analyze how perfectionism dimensions contribute to the development of psychological strengths and difficulties in children. Participants were 319 Spanish students (52.4% girls) between 7 and 11 years old ( M = 9.38, SD = 1.15). Children completed self-reported measures of perfectionism and psychological strengths and difficulties. The sample was divided into groups based on the perfectionism level (high, medium, and low). A one-way ANOVA (Analysis of variance), t-test, Pearson correlations, and 3-step hierarchical regression analyses were run. Results showed that 27.6% of the children belonged to the high perfectionism group, characterized by an elevated Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP). Compared to girls, boys presented higher scores in all perfectionism measures. The younger children presented higher SPP and lower Self-oriented Perfectionism-Critical (SOP-Critical) than the older group. High perfectionism was related to psychological problems. The SOP-Critical increased the likelihood of developing emotional symptoms and total difficulties, and SPP was associated with behavioral and peer problems. In contrast, Self-oriented Perfectionism-Striving (SOP-Striving) was related to greater prosocial behavior. This research has important implications for the design of transdiagnostic strategies targeting the prevention and intervention of psychological difficulties in schoolchildren.

Keywords: child perfectionism; psychological difficulties; prosocial behavior; gender; age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4081/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4081/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4081-:d:368597

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().