The MultidimensionalPerfectionism Scale (MPS-, Frost, Marten, Lahart, a) Rosenblate, 1990) was administered to 219 youth in the Czech Republic. The sample was composed of both mathematically gifted and typical students. As previously found in U.S. samples, two distinct orthogonal constructs of perfectionism were identified, indicating that healthy and unhealthy perfectionism are not opposite poles on a single continuum but, instead, are independent constructs. In this sample, perfectionism was more problematic among the typical than among the gifted students. The relationship between perfectionism and parent-reported adjustment problems and psychosomatic conditions was fairly weak. Asthma was related to parental pressures, and depression was related to concerns over making mistakes; but the magnitude of the relationship was quite modest. The strongest and most consistent result was found in migraine headaches, with the migraines negatively related to high personal standards and a healthy pursuit of excellence.

This study assessed differences in Parker's typology of perfectionism (healthy perfectionist, unhealthy perfectionist, and nonperfectionist). We compared the results from previous research with follow-up 2005 and 2010 data collected from highly gifted Czech mathematicians aged 12 to 16 years. The study examined whether the same three types/clusters of perfectionists emerge for three cohorts (2000, 2005, and 2010) and whether these clusters differ in other characteristics of perfectionism. Data from 2005 and 2010 cohorts showed healthy and unhealthy perfectionism types and a mixed maladaptive-adaptive type characterized by high scores on both adaptive and maladaptive FMPS dimensions. According to Dixon, Lapsley, and Hanchon, this mixed type reflects a recently described "pervasive" type of unhealthy perfectionism. Possible causes for failing to detect this type in earlier samples of talented Czech students are discussed. Both unhealthy and mixed types of perfectionism, which are the focus of our research, seem to be on the rise.

The provision of gifted students with learning difficulties (GSLD) composes a complicated educational problem that deserves special care. This study explores teachers' attitudes towards the GSLD in two samples of primary school teachers: 225 Greek teachers and 158 teachers in the Czech Republic, 40-59 years of age and with 14-28 years of teaching experience. A questionnaire of 26 questions, created for the purpose of this study, was administered referring to teachers' attitudes towards opinions and information regarding the GSLD characteristics, along with three open-ended questions on the most preferable types of the GSLD educational provision. Through multidimensional scaling solutions in their trigonometric transformation (MDS-T) one large common and one minor separate system of items emerged for the two samples, which were meaningful in the direction of understanding teachers' difficulties in accepting the contradictory core of the GSLD characteristics and educational needs. These systems of attitudes are discussed in respect to their relative importance to Czech and Greek teachers and the respective educational settings.

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