A controversial issue in sport perfectionism research concerns the degree to which athletes' perfectionistic tendencies are adaptive or maladaptive. Insight into this issue can be obtained by distinguishing between two perfectionism dimensions: perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. Past narrative reviews concede that perfectionistic concerns are maladaptive in sport, but offer contrasting conclusions about whether athletes' perfectionistic strivings are adaptive or maladaptive (see Flett & Hewitt, 2005;Hall, 2006;Stoeber, 2011). To address this discrepancy, this review systematically documented, categorised, and quantitatively analysed 201 correlations from 31 studies on perfectionism in athletes. When bivariate correlations were regarded, the proportion of evidence associating perfectionistic strivings with adaptive characteristics in sport was slightly greater than the proportion of evidence associating the dimension with maladaptive characteristics in sport. When partial correlations were regarded (i.e., correlations that controlled for overlap with perfectionistic concerns), a clear majority of evidence associated perfectionistic strivings with adaptive characteristics and only a small minority associated it with maladaptive characteristics. Across both instances, though, considerable evidence (as represented by nonsignificant correlations) associated perfectionistic strivings with neither adaptive nor maladaptive characteristics. Collectively, these findings suggest that perfectionistic strivings among athletes are predominantly adaptive, occasionally neutral, and rarely maladaptive. However, this trend is only apparent when the negative influence of perfectionistic concerns is controlled. Implications of these findings on future research directions and applied sport psychology practice are discussed.

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(2015) A qualitative study of perfectionism among self-identified perfectionists in sport, dance, and music. Sport, exercise and performance psychology, 44 (4). pp. 237-253. When adopting any measure of perfectionism to examine the characteristic in sport or the 2 performing arts, researchers make assumptions regarding its core features and, sometimes, its 3 effects. So to avoid doing so, in the current study we employed qualitative methods to examine 4 the accounts of self-identified perfectionists. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to 5 explore the opinions and perceptions of high-level, self-identified perfectionists from sport, 6 dance, and music. In particular, we sought to obtain detailed information regarding (i) 7 participants' perceptions of the main features of being a perfectionist and (ii) how they perceived 8 being a perfectionist to influence their lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 9 international/professional athletes, dancers, and musicians. Thematic analysis was used to 10 identify patterns and themes within the transcripts. Three overarching themes were identified: 11 drive, accomplishment, and strain. Being a perfectionist was characterised by the participants as 12 having ever increasing standards, obsessiveness, rigid and dichotomous thinking, and 13 dissatisfaction. The participants also described how being a perfectionist influenced their lives 14 by, on the one hand, providing greater capacity for success in their respective domains but, on 15 the other hand, contributing to varying degrees of personal and interpersonal difficulties. The 16 accounts suggest that, in the main, the content of current models and measures adequately 17 capture the features of being a perfectionist in sport and performing arts. However, a greater 18 focus on obsessiveness, dissatisfaction, and intra-versus inter-personal dimensions of 19 perfectionism would provide further insight into the lives of perfectionists in these domains. 20 21 22

This study investigates the functional nature of perfectionism in sport through a person-oriented comparison of healthy and unhealthy perfectionist athletes’ levels of burnout. A sample of 117 intercollegiate varsity student-athletes (M age = 21.28 years, SD = 2.05) completed measures that assessed multidimensional sport-based perfectionism and athlete burnout indices (i.e., reduced accomplishment, sport devaluation, and emotional/physical exhaustion). Cluster analysis revealed that the sample could be represented by four theoretically meaningful clusters: Parent-Oriented Unhealthy Perfectionists, Doubt-Oriented Unhealthy Perfectionists, Healthy Perfectionists, and Non-Perfectionists. Intercluster comparisons revealed that healthy perfectionists reported (a) lower levels on all athlete burnout indices in comparison with both doubt-oriented unhealthy perfectionists and nonperfectionists and (b) lower levels of emotional/physical exhaustion in comparison with parent-oriented unhealthy perfectionists (all ps < .05). The degree to which findings fit within perfectionism/burnout theory and can serve as an example for research with enhanced relevancy to applied sport psychology contexts is discussed.

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