Are perfectionistic strivings in sport adaptive? A systematic review of confirmatory, contradictory, and mixed evidence.

Abstract

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.

Perfectionism and attitudes towards doping in junior athletes

“…Consequently, the finding of perfectionistic strivings predicting less favourable attitudes towards doping needs to be interpreted with caution and may only apply to "pure perfectionistic strivings," that is, perfectionistic strivings with other, negative aspects of perfectionism partialled out (Hill, 2014). Still, the finding is in line with previous findings indicating that perfectionistic strivings in sport are mostly adaptive when the overlap with perfectionistic concerns is controlled for (Gotwals, Stoeber, Dunn, & Stoll, 2012;Stoeber, 2011). Moreover, perfectionistic strivings are closely related to the personality trait of conscientiousness (Rice, Ashby, & Slaney, 2007).…”

The advantages of partialling perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns: Critical issues and recommendations

“…In line with previous research (Gotwals et al, 2012;R. W. Hill et al, 2010;Stoeber & Otto, 2006), Hill found that residual PS show larger adaptive relations than PS.…”

“…On empirical grounds, it is important to note that the positive correlations between PS and PC are usually not higher than r = .60 (Gotwals et al, 2012;Stoeber & Otto, 2006), meaning that PS explain no more than 36% of variance in PC (and vice versa). This means that there will be many individuals who are high in PS, but not high in PC.…”

“…Differentiating PS and PC is important because the two superordinate dimensions frequently show different, and often opposite, relations with indicators of psychological adjustment and maladjustment (e.g., Frost et al, 1993;Stoeber & Otto, 2006) Of particular interest, all of the aforementioned relations tend to be stronger when the overlap between PS and PC is partialled out, controlled for, or otherwise taken into account statistically (e.g., Gotwals, Stoeber, Dunn, & Stoll, 2012;R. W. Hill, Huelsman, & Araujo, 2010;Stoeber & Otto, 2006).…”

Authors’ Reply to Hill: Comment on “The Great British Medalists Project: A Review of Current Knowledge on the Development of the World’s Best Sporting Talent”

“…In the super-elite performance world, perfectionists (yes, there is more complexity to this term; see above) who succeed (i.e., win) can be said to possess a somewhat adaptive form of perfectionism-they have successfully adapted their perfectionism to the demands of the environment (see also Gotwals et al [5]). We did not, and do not, imply that those athletes will lead happy, well-adjusted lives.…”