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Dimensions of perfectionism, psychosocial adjustment, and social skills
Person. indit~id.Diff. Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 143-I 50. 1996 Copyright y 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All nghts reserved
Pergamon 0191~8869(95)00170-O
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DIMENSIONS OF PERFECTIONISM, PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT, AND SOCIAL SKILLS Gordon
L. Flett,‘.* Paul L. Hewitt’ and Tessa De Rosa3
‘Department of Psychology. York University, North York, Ontario, Canada M3J lPQ, ‘University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 124 and ‘Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada MSS IV6
Summary-Past research on perfectionism has determined that the construct includes social dimensions involving standards for others and perceived standards imposed on the self by others. The present study sought to extend past research by determining the association between three dimensions of perfectionism (self-oriented perfectionism. other-oriented perfectionism and socially-prescribed perfectionism) and measures of perceived social skills and psychosocial adjustment. A sample of 105 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale along with multiple measures of psychosocial adjustment and perceived social skills. As expected, the correlational results demonstrated that high socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with a variety of psychosocial adjustment problems, including greater loneliness. shyness, and fear of negative evaluation, and lower levels of social self-esteem. In addition, socially prescribed perfectionists had lower self-perceived social skills. There were few significant findings involving self-oriented or other-oriented perfectionism. Taken together, these findings suggest that socially prescribed perfectionists are prone to suffer from various psychosocial problems and perceived deficits in social skills.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, one significant development in the perfectionism literature has been the demonstration that the perfectionism construct has identifiable interpersonal components (Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1990, 1991b). For instance, research in our laboratory with the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale has shown the importance of making a distinction between self-oriented perfectionism (i.e. high self-standards and motivation), and two interpersonal dimensions described as other-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991b). Other-oriented perfectionism is the tendency to have unrealistically high standards for others. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism is the belief that others are imposing perfectionistic demands on the self (i.e. my family expects me to be perfect). The significance of these perfectionism dimensions in terms of longstanding problems in interpersonal adjustment has been shown in a series of studies on personality disorder symptoms (Hewitt & Flett, 1991 b; Hewitt, Flett & Turnbull, 1992, 1994). Research with heterogenous samples has shown that other-oriented perfectionism is linked with several cluster two symptom patterns (i.e. dramatic) that reflect narcissistic and histrionic features. This association with other-oriented perfectionism is in keeping with the extrapunitive nature of individuals with these disorders. In contrast, research on socially prescribed perfectionism has found that it is associated primarily with cluster one symptom patterns (i.e. odd/eccentric) involving paranoid and schizotypal features, and with cluster three symptom patterns (i.e. anxious/fearful) involving avoidant, dependent, and passiveaggressive features. Additional research on diagnosed personality disorder diagnoses has established a link between socially prescribed perfectionism and borderline personality disorder (Hewitt et al., 1994). Although these studies represent a promising beginning, there is much that remains to be learned about the nature and psychosocial correlates of the interpersonal perfectionism dimensions. In the present study, we tested the possibility that socially prescribed perfectionism, as assessed by the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, is associated with lower levels of psychosocial adjustment and lower evaluations of social skills. Research on this topic is essential because the association
*To whom all correspondence
should
be addressed. 143
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Gordon L. Flett et al.
between perfectionism and indices of psychosocial adjustment has received little empirical attention, despite numerous observations that perfectionism is associated closely with negative outcomes such as social anxiety. Some theorists have suggested that it is the presence of high personal standards that underscores social anxiety and shyness (see Schlenker & Leary, 1985; Trower, Gilbert & Sherling, 1990; Trower & Turland, 1984; Zimbardo, 1982). For instance, Schlenker and Leary (1985) postulated that socially anxious individuals have unrealistic personal standards which cause them to doubt their ability to display successful self-presentations. Other theorists have focused on the role of social standards in social anxiety (see Alden & Wallace, 199 1). Shame and social anxiety are believed to stem from exposure as a child to family members with rigid and unrealistic standards (Buss, 1980; Fossum & Mason, 1986; Klass, 1990). These family members are believed to provide an excess of attention in the form of criticism (see Buss, 1986). Unfortunately, most existing research in this area has examined perfectionistic traits and psychosocial outcomes in a cursory manner due to the unavailability of multidimensional measures of perfectionism. Existing research has focused on irrational beliefs that involve high self-expectations and a need to please others. These beliefs have been linked with a variety of interpersonal problems. Irrational beliefs have been studied with respect to social anxiety, loneliness, and lack of assertiveness (e.g. Alden & Safran, 1978; Deffenbacher, Zwemer, Whisman, Hill & Sloan, 1986; Glass & Furlong, 1990; Goldfried & Sobocinski, 1975; Hoglund & Collison, 1989; Lohr & Bonge, 1982; Lohr, Nix, Dunbar & Mosesso, 1984; Rohsenow & Smith 1982). However, these studies are clearly limited in terms of their relevance to an understanding of perfectionism because measures of irrational beliefs do not tap all aspects of the perfectionism construct, as it is currently conceptualized. Moreover, this research is suspect because irrational belief measures contain many overt references to negative affect (Smith, 1982; Smith, Boaz & Denney, 1984). Thus, it is conceivable that the link between irrational beliefs and adjustment measures in these investigations may have been overestimated due to item content overlap. At present, only a few studies have examined psychosocial adjustment and perfectionism from a multidimensional perspective. As part of their initial MPS validation studies, Hewitt and Flett (1991b) administered a measure of fear of negative evaluation to a sample of college students. Hewitt and Flett (1991b) reported that fear of negative evaluation was correlated positively with socially prescribed perfectionism, but it was not correlated significantly with self-oriented or otheroriented perfectionism. In subsequent research, Christensen, Danko and Johnson (1993) used the MPS to explore the association between perfectionism and indices of neuroticism such as embarrassment. This study confirmed an association between perfectionism and embarrassment. Unfortunately, however, the authors restricted their analyses to total scores on the MPS and did not report the results for the separate MPS dimensions. Finally, Alden, Bieling and Wallace (1994) reported an association between socially prescribed perfectionism and social anxiety, but social anxiety was not related to the level of personal standards that were set for an impending social interaction. Given the recent focus on both personal and social standards in theories of social adjustment, it is important to re-examine the association between the various perfectionism dimensions and social outcomes. The purpose of the present research was to examine perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment from a broad perspective. In addition to the MPS, the Ss in the present study completed a battery of measures that included indices of loneliness, shyness, assertiveness, fear of negative evaluation, and social self-esteem. A related purpose of this research was to examine the link between perfectionism and self-reported social skills. Social skills can be regarded as personality traits or personality capabilities that contribute to psychosocial outcomes (see Paulhus & Martin, 1987, 1988). There are widespread individual differences in perceived social competence, and these differences are associated with levels of self-esteem, interaction anxiety, and degree of social contact (see Riggio, Throckmorton & DePaolo, 1990; Shaver, Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). Riggio (1986) developed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI) to measure an individual’s degree of sensitivity, control, and expressiveness in the emotional and social domains. The measures of emotional sensitivity, control, and expressiveness focus on nonverbal displays. Emotional sensitivity involves the skill to receive and decode nonverbal messages from others. Emotional control is the ability to regulate displays of emotionality. Emotional expressiveness is the ability to reveal affective states. In contrast, the measures of social
Perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment
145
sensitivity, control, and expressiveness focus on overt verbal behaviour. Social sensitivity is the ability to understand verbal messages from others. Social control focuses on social role-playing skill. Finally, social expressiveness focuses on verbal speaking ability and the facility to engage others in conversations. The link between perfectionism and perceived social skills has not been investigated in previous research. Consistent with the definition of socially prescribed perfectionism, we predicted that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism would be highly sensitive to feedback from the social environment, and this would be reflected by a high degree of social sensitivity. This would be in keeping with the expected link between socially prescribed perfectionism and social reticence because past research with the SSI has established a link between social sensitivity and elevated levels of shyness and loneliness (Riggio, 1986). We also expected to find a positive association between perfectionism and a pattern of high emotional control and low emotional expressiveness. People with an obsessive-compulsive, perfectionistic personality style have been described as having restrained affectivity and little emotional expression (American Psychiatric Association, 1987; Flett & Hewitt, 1995; Goldstein, 1985; Pollak, 1987). In addition, Burns (1983) discussed a form of emotional perfectionism in which perfectionistic individuals believe that they should not express negative mood states or feelings of anxiety and depression. These observations combine to suggest the possibility that perfectionists who are especially concerned about social disapproval (i.e. socially prescribed perfectionists) will not display their emotionality, and this will be reflected on the SSI by elevated levels of emotional control and low levels of emotional expressiveness. These hypotheses were examined in the present study.
METHOD Subjects The sample consisted of a total of 105 students (37 men, 68 women) from York University. Ss were approached randomly and asked to participate in a questionnaire study of ‘personality interpersonal behavior’. Materials
The and
and procedure
Ss were approached at various locations in the university. If a person volunteered to participate, he or she completed a questionnaire package that included the following measures. Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. The MPS (Hewitt & Flett, 1989; 1991 b) is a 45-item measure designed to measure self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Ss make seven-point ratings of such statements as ‘When I am working on something, I cannot relax until it is perfect’ (self-oriented perfectionism), ‘I have high expectations for the people who are important to me’ (other-oriented perfectionism), and ‘I feel that people are too demanding of me’ (socially prescribed perfectionism). A growing body of evidence has confirmed that the MPS is multidimensional and the subscales have adequate internal consistency and validity (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein & Dynin, 1994; Flett, Sawatzky, & Hewitt, in press; Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia & Naubauer, 1993; 1993; Hewitt & Flett, 1991b; Hewitt, Flett, Turnbull-Donovan & Mikail, 1991b). Also, there is evidence that the MPS subscales are not influenced significantly by response biases among college students or clinical patients (Hewitt, Flett & Blankstein, 1991a; Hewitt et al., 199lb). Social Reticence Scale. The SRS (Jones, Briggs & Smith, 1986) is a 20-item instrument that measures characteristic levels of shyness in social situations. Jones et al. (1986) reported that the scale has adequate internal consistency and it is correlated significantly with observer ratings of behaviour in social situations. The UCLA Loneliness Scale. The scale is a well-known 20-item measure of dispositional levels of loneliness (Russell, Peplau & Cutrona, 1980). It is correlated significantly with other measures of social avoidance and social network variables (Jones et al., 1986; Riggio et al., 1990; Stokes, 1985). The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. The RAS is a 30-item measure of assertiveness with acceptable levels of test-retest and split-half reliability (Rathus, 1973). Past research has established that high assertiveness, as assessed by the RAS, is associated negatively with a battery of measures that assess social reticence (see Jones et al., 1986).
Gordon L. Flett et al.
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The Texas Social Behaviour Inventory. The TSBI is a 32-item measure of social self-esteem (Helmreich & Stapp, 1974; Helmreich, Stapp & Ervin, 1974). Helmreich and Stapp (1974) developed two parallel 16-item versions of the TSBI and referred to them as Form A and Form B. Form A was used in the present study. The two forms are highly correlated and have an adequate degree of internal consistency (see Cuffel & Akamatsu, 1989; Helmreich & Stapp, 1974). Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. The FNE short form is a 12-item scale rated on a five-point scale (Leary, 1983). It measures the degree to which individuals experience apprehension at the thought of being evaluated in a negative manner. Scores on the FNE are correlated significantly with indices of anxiety in student samples (Flett & Blankstein, 1994). Social Skills Inventory. The SSI consists of six scales with 15 items each (Riggio, 1986). It assesses dimensions of emotional control (e.g. I am able to conceal my true feelings from just about anyone. I am very good at maintaining a calm exterior, even when upset), emotional expressivity (e.g. I often laugh out loud. I have been told that I have ‘expressive eyes’), emotional sensitivity (e.g. I am easily able to touch or hug a distressed person in order to comfort them. People often tell me that I am a sensitive and understanding person), social control (e.g. when I am not enjoying myself at some social function I can still make myself look like I am having a good time. When in a group of friends, I am often the spokesperson for the group), social expressivity (e.g. I usually take the initiative and introduce myself to strangers. At parties I enjoy speaking to a great number of different people), and social sensitivity (e.g. I often worry that people will misinterpret something that I have said to them. I am very sensitive to criticism). Higher scores indicated greater emotional control, greater emotional expressivity, and so on. A growing body of research attests to the reliability and validity of the overall SSI and its subscales (see Flett, Blankstein, Bator & Pliner, 1989; Riggio et al., 1990; Riggio, Watring & Throckmorton, 1993).
RESULTS Pearson correlation coefficients were computed between the perfectionism measures and the indices of psychosocial adjustment and social skill. Only the analyses for the total sample will be reported because of the relatively low number of men in this study. In general, the analyses supported the discriminant validity of the MPS subscales. As can be seen in Table I, few significant correlations emerged with self-oriented perfectionism. However, self-oriented perfectionism was correlated significantly with greater emotional sensitivity r = 0.25, P < 0.05, and greater social expressiveness, r = 0.20, P < 0.05. There were no other significant effects involving self-oriented perfectionism. Analyses with other-oriented perfectionism showed that it was associated with higher levels of assertiveness, r = 0.20, P < 0.05. Other-oriented perfectionism was also linked with greater
Table 1. Correlations
between perfectionism
and soaal adjutment
and social skills
Perfectionism
Loneliness Shyness Fear of negauve evaluation Social self-esteem Assertiveness
Emotional-expressiveness EmotIonal-sensltivlty Emotional-control Social-expressiveness Social-sensitiwty Social-control *P i
0.05,
**p
P,~yhosoriul Adjustnw~t -0.08 -0.1 I 0.05 -0.12 0.09 SO~iUl .%Ill.Y 0.1 I 0.25* 0.04 0.20* 0.15 0.08
-0.08
- 0.05 O.tJh -0.06 0 20*
0 24* 0.22* -0.01 0.22* 0.1 I 0.1 I
0.37** 0.2g** 0.25* 0.21* -0.16
-0.22* 0.0x 0.26** 0.02 0.25* -0 15
< 0.01.
The following abbrewations oriented perfectionism;
were used: Self, self-orlented perfectiomsm; Other. otherand Soc~;ll. socially prescribed perfectionism.
Perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment
147
emotional expressiveness, r = 0.24, P < 0.05, greater emotional sensitivity, r = 0.22, P < 0.05, and greater social expressiveness, r = 0.22, P < 0.05. As expected, individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism reported poorer psychosocial adjustment across a variety of measures. Socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with greater loneliness, r = 0.37, P < 0.01, shyness, r = 0.28, P < 0.01, and fear of negative evaluation, r = 0.25, P < 0.05. Socially prescribed perfectionism was also associated significantly with reduced levels of social self-esteem, r = -0.21, P < 0.05. Regarding the SSI measures, socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with lower emotional expressiveness, r = -0.22, P < 0.05, higher emotional control, r = 0.26, P < 0.01, and greater social sensitivity, r = 0.25, P < 0.05. Correlutions
between psychosocial
measures
and the SSI
Although it was not our primary goal, it should also be noted that further evidence of the association between the SSI and psychosocial social expressiveness, but comparable correlations were obtained social expressiveness was associated with loneliness, r = -0.41, P < 0.01, fear of negative evaluation, r = -0.26, P < 0.01, and P < 0.01. Hierarchical
regression
the current study also provided adjustment. We will focus on with other SSI subscales. Low P < 0.01, shyness, r = -0.59, greater assertiveness, r = 0.48,
analysis
Finally, a series of hierarchical regression analyses was conducted to examine the possibility that the perfectionism dimensions may moderate the association between the SSI and psychosocial adjustment. This would be in keeping with models which suggest that perfectionistic standards and an awareness of being less than perfect are factors that contribute jointly to social anxiety. Only one set of findings will be reported because the results are quite similar across the analyses. The dependent measure in this analysis was social self-esteem. The MPS measures were entered first as a predictor block and accounted for a significant 9.74% of the variance, Fchange = 3.63, P < 0.05. Not surprisingly, the only significant individual predictor variable was socially prescribed perfectionism, F = 9.35, P < 0.01. Total SSI scores were entered next and it was found that perceived social skills accounted for an additional 54.8% of the variance, F = 154.64, P < 0.001. However, the block consisting of the two-way interactions between the MPS dimensions and the SSI was not significant in this or in any other analysis.
DISCUSSION As expected, the results of the current study highlighted the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and poor psychosocial adjustment. It was found that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with significantly higher levels of loneliness, shyness and fear of negative evaluation. Socially prescribed perfectionism was also associated with lower levels of social self-esteem. Overall, socially prescribed perfectionism was associated most strongly with loneliness. This finding suggests that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism have adopted a pattern of responding to anticipated criticism from individuals with unrealistic expectations by becoming isolated and withdrawn. Additional findings clarified the role of perfectionistic traits in loneliness and social anxiety by revealing that neither self-oriented perfectionism nor other-oriented perfectionism were associated with measures of poor psychosocial adjustment. These data accord with previous results that suggest little association between levels of self-set standards and social anxiety in interpersonal contexts (Alden et al., 1994; Wallace & Alden, 1991). If anything, the significant correlations involving these dimensions suggested that self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism may be associated with positive appraisals of social skills in certain areas. For instance, other-oriented perfectionism was linked with elevated levels of assertiveness. These data are consistent with previous evidence suggesting that other-oriented perfectionists are toughminded individuals who are both capable and willing to dominate others when this behaviour is required. The results involving the SSI highlighted further the distinctions among the perfectionism dimensions, as assessed by the MPS. Both self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism were associated
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148
with higher levels of emotional sensitivity and social expressiveness. Thus, these dimensions of perfectionism were associated with higher perceived levels of the ability to decode messages and engage others in conversation. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism was not correlated significantly with these SSI measures. Rather, socially prescribed perfectionists reported low levels of emotional expressiveness, and high levels of emotional control and social sensitivity, as predicted. This pattern of findings is in keeping with the notion that socially prescribed perfectionists are sensitive, avoidant individuals who may be trying to maintain a false image of emotional control. Although several new findings were obtained in the present study, it is evident that these findings need to be qualified by acknowledging that the correlations obtained in the present study were not very robust. One possible explanation for the relatively low magnitude of the correlations in this study is that certain SSI items tap both the descriptive and evaluative aspects of social skills, and this may have attenuated the obtained correlations. For example, an item such as ‘I am very good at maintaining a calm exterior, even when upset’ is an item that is weighted heavily with a selfevaluative appraisal component. This may have reduced some of the correlations in the current study since description and evaluation in personality assessment should be kept distinct (see Flett, Hewitt, Endler & Bagby, in press; Peabody, 1967; Saucier, 1994); in the present context, socially prescribed perfectionists may attempt to maintain emotional control but perceive that they are not very good at it because they are using extreme standards to evaluate their attempts. A negative appraisal of the ability to control emotions is suggested by the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and low social self-esteem that was detected in our study. In future research, a more accurate assessment of perfectionism and emotional orientations should emerge from the use of measures that distinguish types of emotional styles and self-evaluations of competence level. Directions for,fkture
research
The current study suggests several other directions for further research. One important topic for further research is the association between perfectionism and affective and cognitive reactions in social situations. General research has established that perfectionism is associated with state anxiety in academic performance situations, but research has not addressed the link between perfectionism and social anxiety in naturalistic settings that involve a focus on social evaluation. Another important topic for further research is to compare perfectionism and broad trait domains (e.g. neuroticism) in terms of their relative degree of association with indices of psychosocial adjustment. It is important to establish whether dimensions of perfectionism account for unique variance in outcome measures such as social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Finally, research needs to explore the negative implications of the apparent association between socially prescribed perfectionism and low emotional expressiveness. Several findings in the current study suggest that socially prescribed perfectionists may have low dispositional levels of selfdisclosure. For instance, past research has established that loneliness and social anxiety are characteristics that tend to inhibit self-disclosure (Davis & Franzoi, 1986; Meleshko & Alden, 1993). If perfectionists are unlikely to disclose their problems, this may have a variety of negative consequences. At an interpersonal level, a failure to engage in appropriate self-disclosure may have a deleterious effect on the perfectionist’s relationships. Perfectionists may also be susceptible to health problems. People with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism tend to experience chronic stress and emotional distress in a variety of forms (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein & Mosher, in press; Flett, Hewitt, Endler & Tassone, 1994; Flett, Hewitt & Hallett, 1995; Hewitt & Flett, 1991a; b, 1993; Hewitt, Flett & Mikail, in press). Extensive research has shown that a failure to express emotional distress is associated reliably with serious health problems (Pennebaker, 1985, 1989; Pennebaker & Beall, 1986; Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1988). In summary, the current study provided clear evidence that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with a host of psychosocial problems (e.g. loneliness, shyness, low social self-esteem) and a pattern of social skills that reflects low emotional expressiveness and an elevated level of emotional control. Socially prescribed perfectionism is distinct from other perfectionism dimensions in that measures of self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism were unrelated to problems in psychosocial adjustment. In general, the current study attests further to the relevance of perfectionistic standards in interpersonal phenomena.
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AcknowGdgemenrs-This research was conducted as part of an Honour’s thesis conducted by the third author under the supervision of the first author. This research was supported by grants No. 410-91-8056 and No. 410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Pergamon 0191~8869(95)00170-O
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DIMENSIONS OF PERFECTIONISM, PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT, AND SOCIAL SKILLS Gordon
L. Flett,‘.* Paul L. Hewitt’ and Tessa De Rosa3
‘Department of Psychology. York University, North York, Ontario, Canada M3J lPQ, ‘University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 124 and ‘Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada MSS IV6
Summary-Past research on perfectionism has determined that the construct includes social dimensions involving standards for others and perceived standards imposed on the self by others. The present study sought to extend past research by determining the association between three dimensions of perfectionism (self-oriented perfectionism. other-oriented perfectionism and socially-prescribed perfectionism) and measures of perceived social skills and psychosocial adjustment. A sample of 105 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale along with multiple measures of psychosocial adjustment and perceived social skills. As expected, the correlational results demonstrated that high socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with a variety of psychosocial adjustment problems, including greater loneliness. shyness, and fear of negative evaluation, and lower levels of social self-esteem. In addition, socially prescribed perfectionists had lower self-perceived social skills. There were few significant findings involving self-oriented or other-oriented perfectionism. Taken together, these findings suggest that socially prescribed perfectionists are prone to suffer from various psychosocial problems and perceived deficits in social skills.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, one significant development in the perfectionism literature has been the demonstration that the perfectionism construct has identifiable interpersonal components (Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1990, 1991b). For instance, research in our laboratory with the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale has shown the importance of making a distinction between self-oriented perfectionism (i.e. high self-standards and motivation), and two interpersonal dimensions described as other-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991b). Other-oriented perfectionism is the tendency to have unrealistically high standards for others. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism is the belief that others are imposing perfectionistic demands on the self (i.e. my family expects me to be perfect). The significance of these perfectionism dimensions in terms of longstanding problems in interpersonal adjustment has been shown in a series of studies on personality disorder symptoms (Hewitt & Flett, 1991 b; Hewitt, Flett & Turnbull, 1992, 1994). Research with heterogenous samples has shown that other-oriented perfectionism is linked with several cluster two symptom patterns (i.e. dramatic) that reflect narcissistic and histrionic features. This association with other-oriented perfectionism is in keeping with the extrapunitive nature of individuals with these disorders. In contrast, research on socially prescribed perfectionism has found that it is associated primarily with cluster one symptom patterns (i.e. odd/eccentric) involving paranoid and schizotypal features, and with cluster three symptom patterns (i.e. anxious/fearful) involving avoidant, dependent, and passiveaggressive features. Additional research on diagnosed personality disorder diagnoses has established a link between socially prescribed perfectionism and borderline personality disorder (Hewitt et al., 1994). Although these studies represent a promising beginning, there is much that remains to be learned about the nature and psychosocial correlates of the interpersonal perfectionism dimensions. In the present study, we tested the possibility that socially prescribed perfectionism, as assessed by the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, is associated with lower levels of psychosocial adjustment and lower evaluations of social skills. Research on this topic is essential because the association
*To whom all correspondence
should
be addressed. 143
144
Gordon L. Flett et al.
between perfectionism and indices of psychosocial adjustment has received little empirical attention, despite numerous observations that perfectionism is associated closely with negative outcomes such as social anxiety. Some theorists have suggested that it is the presence of high personal standards that underscores social anxiety and shyness (see Schlenker & Leary, 1985; Trower, Gilbert & Sherling, 1990; Trower & Turland, 1984; Zimbardo, 1982). For instance, Schlenker and Leary (1985) postulated that socially anxious individuals have unrealistic personal standards which cause them to doubt their ability to display successful self-presentations. Other theorists have focused on the role of social standards in social anxiety (see Alden & Wallace, 199 1). Shame and social anxiety are believed to stem from exposure as a child to family members with rigid and unrealistic standards (Buss, 1980; Fossum & Mason, 1986; Klass, 1990). These family members are believed to provide an excess of attention in the form of criticism (see Buss, 1986). Unfortunately, most existing research in this area has examined perfectionistic traits and psychosocial outcomes in a cursory manner due to the unavailability of multidimensional measures of perfectionism. Existing research has focused on irrational beliefs that involve high self-expectations and a need to please others. These beliefs have been linked with a variety of interpersonal problems. Irrational beliefs have been studied with respect to social anxiety, loneliness, and lack of assertiveness (e.g. Alden & Safran, 1978; Deffenbacher, Zwemer, Whisman, Hill & Sloan, 1986; Glass & Furlong, 1990; Goldfried & Sobocinski, 1975; Hoglund & Collison, 1989; Lohr & Bonge, 1982; Lohr, Nix, Dunbar & Mosesso, 1984; Rohsenow & Smith 1982). However, these studies are clearly limited in terms of their relevance to an understanding of perfectionism because measures of irrational beliefs do not tap all aspects of the perfectionism construct, as it is currently conceptualized. Moreover, this research is suspect because irrational belief measures contain many overt references to negative affect (Smith, 1982; Smith, Boaz & Denney, 1984). Thus, it is conceivable that the link between irrational beliefs and adjustment measures in these investigations may have been overestimated due to item content overlap. At present, only a few studies have examined psychosocial adjustment and perfectionism from a multidimensional perspective. As part of their initial MPS validation studies, Hewitt and Flett (1991b) administered a measure of fear of negative evaluation to a sample of college students. Hewitt and Flett (1991b) reported that fear of negative evaluation was correlated positively with socially prescribed perfectionism, but it was not correlated significantly with self-oriented or otheroriented perfectionism. In subsequent research, Christensen, Danko and Johnson (1993) used the MPS to explore the association between perfectionism and indices of neuroticism such as embarrassment. This study confirmed an association between perfectionism and embarrassment. Unfortunately, however, the authors restricted their analyses to total scores on the MPS and did not report the results for the separate MPS dimensions. Finally, Alden, Bieling and Wallace (1994) reported an association between socially prescribed perfectionism and social anxiety, but social anxiety was not related to the level of personal standards that were set for an impending social interaction. Given the recent focus on both personal and social standards in theories of social adjustment, it is important to re-examine the association between the various perfectionism dimensions and social outcomes. The purpose of the present research was to examine perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment from a broad perspective. In addition to the MPS, the Ss in the present study completed a battery of measures that included indices of loneliness, shyness, assertiveness, fear of negative evaluation, and social self-esteem. A related purpose of this research was to examine the link between perfectionism and self-reported social skills. Social skills can be regarded as personality traits or personality capabilities that contribute to psychosocial outcomes (see Paulhus & Martin, 1987, 1988). There are widespread individual differences in perceived social competence, and these differences are associated with levels of self-esteem, interaction anxiety, and degree of social contact (see Riggio, Throckmorton & DePaolo, 1990; Shaver, Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). Riggio (1986) developed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI) to measure an individual’s degree of sensitivity, control, and expressiveness in the emotional and social domains. The measures of emotional sensitivity, control, and expressiveness focus on nonverbal displays. Emotional sensitivity involves the skill to receive and decode nonverbal messages from others. Emotional control is the ability to regulate displays of emotionality. Emotional expressiveness is the ability to reveal affective states. In contrast, the measures of social
Perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment
145
sensitivity, control, and expressiveness focus on overt verbal behaviour. Social sensitivity is the ability to understand verbal messages from others. Social control focuses on social role-playing skill. Finally, social expressiveness focuses on verbal speaking ability and the facility to engage others in conversations. The link between perfectionism and perceived social skills has not been investigated in previous research. Consistent with the definition of socially prescribed perfectionism, we predicted that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism would be highly sensitive to feedback from the social environment, and this would be reflected by a high degree of social sensitivity. This would be in keeping with the expected link between socially prescribed perfectionism and social reticence because past research with the SSI has established a link between social sensitivity and elevated levels of shyness and loneliness (Riggio, 1986). We also expected to find a positive association between perfectionism and a pattern of high emotional control and low emotional expressiveness. People with an obsessive-compulsive, perfectionistic personality style have been described as having restrained affectivity and little emotional expression (American Psychiatric Association, 1987; Flett & Hewitt, 1995; Goldstein, 1985; Pollak, 1987). In addition, Burns (1983) discussed a form of emotional perfectionism in which perfectionistic individuals believe that they should not express negative mood states or feelings of anxiety and depression. These observations combine to suggest the possibility that perfectionists who are especially concerned about social disapproval (i.e. socially prescribed perfectionists) will not display their emotionality, and this will be reflected on the SSI by elevated levels of emotional control and low levels of emotional expressiveness. These hypotheses were examined in the present study.
METHOD Subjects The sample consisted of a total of 105 students (37 men, 68 women) from York University. Ss were approached randomly and asked to participate in a questionnaire study of ‘personality interpersonal behavior’. Materials
The and
and procedure
Ss were approached at various locations in the university. If a person volunteered to participate, he or she completed a questionnaire package that included the following measures. Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. The MPS (Hewitt & Flett, 1989; 1991 b) is a 45-item measure designed to measure self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Ss make seven-point ratings of such statements as ‘When I am working on something, I cannot relax until it is perfect’ (self-oriented perfectionism), ‘I have high expectations for the people who are important to me’ (other-oriented perfectionism), and ‘I feel that people are too demanding of me’ (socially prescribed perfectionism). A growing body of evidence has confirmed that the MPS is multidimensional and the subscales have adequate internal consistency and validity (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein & Dynin, 1994; Flett, Sawatzky, & Hewitt, in press; Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia & Naubauer, 1993; 1993; Hewitt & Flett, 1991b; Hewitt, Flett, Turnbull-Donovan & Mikail, 1991b). Also, there is evidence that the MPS subscales are not influenced significantly by response biases among college students or clinical patients (Hewitt, Flett & Blankstein, 1991a; Hewitt et al., 199lb). Social Reticence Scale. The SRS (Jones, Briggs & Smith, 1986) is a 20-item instrument that measures characteristic levels of shyness in social situations. Jones et al. (1986) reported that the scale has adequate internal consistency and it is correlated significantly with observer ratings of behaviour in social situations. The UCLA Loneliness Scale. The scale is a well-known 20-item measure of dispositional levels of loneliness (Russell, Peplau & Cutrona, 1980). It is correlated significantly with other measures of social avoidance and social network variables (Jones et al., 1986; Riggio et al., 1990; Stokes, 1985). The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. The RAS is a 30-item measure of assertiveness with acceptable levels of test-retest and split-half reliability (Rathus, 1973). Past research has established that high assertiveness, as assessed by the RAS, is associated negatively with a battery of measures that assess social reticence (see Jones et al., 1986).
Gordon L. Flett et al.
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The Texas Social Behaviour Inventory. The TSBI is a 32-item measure of social self-esteem (Helmreich & Stapp, 1974; Helmreich, Stapp & Ervin, 1974). Helmreich and Stapp (1974) developed two parallel 16-item versions of the TSBI and referred to them as Form A and Form B. Form A was used in the present study. The two forms are highly correlated and have an adequate degree of internal consistency (see Cuffel & Akamatsu, 1989; Helmreich & Stapp, 1974). Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. The FNE short form is a 12-item scale rated on a five-point scale (Leary, 1983). It measures the degree to which individuals experience apprehension at the thought of being evaluated in a negative manner. Scores on the FNE are correlated significantly with indices of anxiety in student samples (Flett & Blankstein, 1994). Social Skills Inventory. The SSI consists of six scales with 15 items each (Riggio, 1986). It assesses dimensions of emotional control (e.g. I am able to conceal my true feelings from just about anyone. I am very good at maintaining a calm exterior, even when upset), emotional expressivity (e.g. I often laugh out loud. I have been told that I have ‘expressive eyes’), emotional sensitivity (e.g. I am easily able to touch or hug a distressed person in order to comfort them. People often tell me that I am a sensitive and understanding person), social control (e.g. when I am not enjoying myself at some social function I can still make myself look like I am having a good time. When in a group of friends, I am often the spokesperson for the group), social expressivity (e.g. I usually take the initiative and introduce myself to strangers. At parties I enjoy speaking to a great number of different people), and social sensitivity (e.g. I often worry that people will misinterpret something that I have said to them. I am very sensitive to criticism). Higher scores indicated greater emotional control, greater emotional expressivity, and so on. A growing body of research attests to the reliability and validity of the overall SSI and its subscales (see Flett, Blankstein, Bator & Pliner, 1989; Riggio et al., 1990; Riggio, Watring & Throckmorton, 1993).
RESULTS Pearson correlation coefficients were computed between the perfectionism measures and the indices of psychosocial adjustment and social skill. Only the analyses for the total sample will be reported because of the relatively low number of men in this study. In general, the analyses supported the discriminant validity of the MPS subscales. As can be seen in Table I, few significant correlations emerged with self-oriented perfectionism. However, self-oriented perfectionism was correlated significantly with greater emotional sensitivity r = 0.25, P < 0.05, and greater social expressiveness, r = 0.20, P < 0.05. There were no other significant effects involving self-oriented perfectionism. Analyses with other-oriented perfectionism showed that it was associated with higher levels of assertiveness, r = 0.20, P < 0.05. Other-oriented perfectionism was also linked with greater
Table 1. Correlations
between perfectionism
and soaal adjutment
and social skills
Perfectionism
Loneliness Shyness Fear of negauve evaluation Social self-esteem Assertiveness
Emotional-expressiveness EmotIonal-sensltivlty Emotional-control Social-expressiveness Social-sensitiwty Social-control *P i
0.05,
**p
P,~yhosoriul Adjustnw~t -0.08 -0.1 I 0.05 -0.12 0.09 SO~iUl .%Ill.Y 0.1 I 0.25* 0.04 0.20* 0.15 0.08
-0.08
- 0.05 O.tJh -0.06 0 20*
0 24* 0.22* -0.01 0.22* 0.1 I 0.1 I
0.37** 0.2g** 0.25* 0.21* -0.16
-0.22* 0.0x 0.26** 0.02 0.25* -0 15
< 0.01.
The following abbrewations oriented perfectionism;
were used: Self, self-orlented perfectiomsm; Other. otherand Soc~;ll. socially prescribed perfectionism.
Perfectionism and psychosocial adjustment
147
emotional expressiveness, r = 0.24, P < 0.05, greater emotional sensitivity, r = 0.22, P < 0.05, and greater social expressiveness, r = 0.22, P < 0.05. As expected, individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism reported poorer psychosocial adjustment across a variety of measures. Socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with greater loneliness, r = 0.37, P < 0.01, shyness, r = 0.28, P < 0.01, and fear of negative evaluation, r = 0.25, P < 0.05. Socially prescribed perfectionism was also associated significantly with reduced levels of social self-esteem, r = -0.21, P < 0.05. Regarding the SSI measures, socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with lower emotional expressiveness, r = -0.22, P < 0.05, higher emotional control, r = 0.26, P < 0.01, and greater social sensitivity, r = 0.25, P < 0.05. Correlutions
between psychosocial
measures
and the SSI
Although it was not our primary goal, it should also be noted that further evidence of the association between the SSI and psychosocial social expressiveness, but comparable correlations were obtained social expressiveness was associated with loneliness, r = -0.41, P < 0.01, fear of negative evaluation, r = -0.26, P < 0.01, and P < 0.01. Hierarchical
regression
the current study also provided adjustment. We will focus on with other SSI subscales. Low P < 0.01, shyness, r = -0.59, greater assertiveness, r = 0.48,
analysis
Finally, a series of hierarchical regression analyses was conducted to examine the possibility that the perfectionism dimensions may moderate the association between the SSI and psychosocial adjustment. This would be in keeping with models which suggest that perfectionistic standards and an awareness of being less than perfect are factors that contribute jointly to social anxiety. Only one set of findings will be reported because the results are quite similar across the analyses. The dependent measure in this analysis was social self-esteem. The MPS measures were entered first as a predictor block and accounted for a significant 9.74% of the variance, Fchange = 3.63, P < 0.05. Not surprisingly, the only significant individual predictor variable was socially prescribed perfectionism, F = 9.35, P < 0.01. Total SSI scores were entered next and it was found that perceived social skills accounted for an additional 54.8% of the variance, F = 154.64, P < 0.001. However, the block consisting of the two-way interactions between the MPS dimensions and the SSI was not significant in this or in any other analysis.
DISCUSSION As expected, the results of the current study highlighted the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and poor psychosocial adjustment. It was found that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with significantly higher levels of loneliness, shyness and fear of negative evaluation. Socially prescribed perfectionism was also associated with lower levels of social self-esteem. Overall, socially prescribed perfectionism was associated most strongly with loneliness. This finding suggests that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism have adopted a pattern of responding to anticipated criticism from individuals with unrealistic expectations by becoming isolated and withdrawn. Additional findings clarified the role of perfectionistic traits in loneliness and social anxiety by revealing that neither self-oriented perfectionism nor other-oriented perfectionism were associated with measures of poor psychosocial adjustment. These data accord with previous results that suggest little association between levels of self-set standards and social anxiety in interpersonal contexts (Alden et al., 1994; Wallace & Alden, 1991). If anything, the significant correlations involving these dimensions suggested that self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism may be associated with positive appraisals of social skills in certain areas. For instance, other-oriented perfectionism was linked with elevated levels of assertiveness. These data are consistent with previous evidence suggesting that other-oriented perfectionists are toughminded individuals who are both capable and willing to dominate others when this behaviour is required. The results involving the SSI highlighted further the distinctions among the perfectionism dimensions, as assessed by the MPS. Both self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism were associated
Gordon L. Flett et al
148
with higher levels of emotional sensitivity and social expressiveness. Thus, these dimensions of perfectionism were associated with higher perceived levels of the ability to decode messages and engage others in conversation. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism was not correlated significantly with these SSI measures. Rather, socially prescribed perfectionists reported low levels of emotional expressiveness, and high levels of emotional control and social sensitivity, as predicted. This pattern of findings is in keeping with the notion that socially prescribed perfectionists are sensitive, avoidant individuals who may be trying to maintain a false image of emotional control. Although several new findings were obtained in the present study, it is evident that these findings need to be qualified by acknowledging that the correlations obtained in the present study were not very robust. One possible explanation for the relatively low magnitude of the correlations in this study is that certain SSI items tap both the descriptive and evaluative aspects of social skills, and this may have attenuated the obtained correlations. For example, an item such as ‘I am very good at maintaining a calm exterior, even when upset’ is an item that is weighted heavily with a selfevaluative appraisal component. This may have reduced some of the correlations in the current study since description and evaluation in personality assessment should be kept distinct (see Flett, Hewitt, Endler & Bagby, in press; Peabody, 1967; Saucier, 1994); in the present context, socially prescribed perfectionists may attempt to maintain emotional control but perceive that they are not very good at it because they are using extreme standards to evaluate their attempts. A negative appraisal of the ability to control emotions is suggested by the association between socially prescribed perfectionism and low social self-esteem that was detected in our study. In future research, a more accurate assessment of perfectionism and emotional orientations should emerge from the use of measures that distinguish types of emotional styles and self-evaluations of competence level. Directions for,fkture
research
The current study suggests several other directions for further research. One important topic for further research is the association between perfectionism and affective and cognitive reactions in social situations. General research has established that perfectionism is associated with state anxiety in academic performance situations, but research has not addressed the link between perfectionism and social anxiety in naturalistic settings that involve a focus on social evaluation. Another important topic for further research is to compare perfectionism and broad trait domains (e.g. neuroticism) in terms of their relative degree of association with indices of psychosocial adjustment. It is important to establish whether dimensions of perfectionism account for unique variance in outcome measures such as social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Finally, research needs to explore the negative implications of the apparent association between socially prescribed perfectionism and low emotional expressiveness. Several findings in the current study suggest that socially prescribed perfectionists may have low dispositional levels of selfdisclosure. For instance, past research has established that loneliness and social anxiety are characteristics that tend to inhibit self-disclosure (Davis & Franzoi, 1986; Meleshko & Alden, 1993). If perfectionists are unlikely to disclose their problems, this may have a variety of negative consequences. At an interpersonal level, a failure to engage in appropriate self-disclosure may have a deleterious effect on the perfectionist’s relationships. Perfectionists may also be susceptible to health problems. People with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism tend to experience chronic stress and emotional distress in a variety of forms (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein & Mosher, in press; Flett, Hewitt, Endler & Tassone, 1994; Flett, Hewitt & Hallett, 1995; Hewitt & Flett, 1991a; b, 1993; Hewitt, Flett & Mikail, in press). Extensive research has shown that a failure to express emotional distress is associated reliably with serious health problems (Pennebaker, 1985, 1989; Pennebaker & Beall, 1986; Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser & Glaser, 1988). In summary, the current study provided clear evidence that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with a host of psychosocial problems (e.g. loneliness, shyness, low social self-esteem) and a pattern of social skills that reflects low emotional expressiveness and an elevated level of emotional control. Socially prescribed perfectionism is distinct from other perfectionism dimensions in that measures of self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism were unrelated to problems in psychosocial adjustment. In general, the current study attests further to the relevance of perfectionistic standards in interpersonal phenomena.
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AcknowGdgemenrs-This research was conducted as part of an Honour’s thesis conducted by the third author under the supervision of the first author. This research was supported by grants No. 410-91-8056 and No. 410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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