Can Perfectionism Affect Career Development? Exploring Career Thoughts and Self‐Efficacy

Abstract

This study identified relationships among career‐specific barriers (i.e., perfectionism, negative career thoughts, career decision‐making self‐efficacy) in a sample of 300 college students. The authors found relationships among the constructs of interest, prediction of variance in career decision‐making self‐efficacy, and differences among groups of perfectionists on endorsements of negative career thoughts and career decision‐making self‐efficacy. The findings suggest that interventions addressing maladaptive perfectionism and dysfunctional career thinking may enhance clients’ confidence in decision making.

Perfectionism in students and positive career planning attitudes

“…Finally, Andrews, Bullock-Yowell, Dahlen, and Nicholson (2014) found ECP (combining concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, parental expectations, and parental criticism) PERFECTIONISM AND CAREER PLANNING ATTITUDES showed a positive relationship with negative career thoughts (e.g., "I'll never understand enough about occupations to make a good choice"). In contrast, PSP (combining personal standards and organization) showed a negative relationship.…”

Gender Differences in STEM Students' Perfectionism, Career Search Self‐Efficacy, and Perception of Career Barriers

“…More recent research has started to answer Slaney et al's () call to explore the important connections between perfectionism and career‐related outcome variables (Andrews et al, ; Ganske & Ashby, ; Leong & Chervinko, ; LoCicero & Ashby, ; Page et al, ; Periasamy & Ashby, ). An area of particular interest has been career search self‐efficacy.…”

“…Page et al () found that both dimensions of perfectionism were unique predictors of career decision‐making self‐efficacy, whereas only the dimension of perfectionistic strivings was a unique predictor of career choice. Also, Andrews et al () found that perfectionistic strivings were negatively associated with negative career thoughts and positively associated with career decision‐making self‐efficacy, whereas perfectionistic concerns were positively associated with negative career thoughts but not associated with career decision‐making self‐efficacy. Each of these studies explored the role of perfectionism and career search self‐efficacy among general undergraduate populations, but not specifically among students majoring in STEM fields.…”

“…Perfectionism is increasingly being viewed as an important personality characteristic to career development (Andrews, Bullock‐Yowell, Dahlen, & Nicholson, ; Ganske & Ashby, ; Leong & Chervinko, ; LoCicero & Ashby, ; Page, Bruch, & Haase, ; Periasamy & Ashby, ). Although several studies have explored the relationship between perfectionism, academic self‐efficacy, and academic performance among STEM majors (Rice, Lopez, & Richardson, ; Rice, Lopez, Richardson, & Stinson, ), we could not find studies that specifically explored the influence of perfectionism on career development among STEM majors.…”

Effects of Self‐Compassion and Social Support on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual College Students' Positive Identity and Career Decision‐Making

“…Numerous researchers have studied the role of CDMSE among college students (e.g., Andrews et al, 2014;Betz et al, 2005;Guay et al, 2006;Lam & Santos, 2018;Xu & Tracey, 2015). In a study of 184 college students, Betz et al (1996) found that students who indicate a low level of CDMSE often have negative cognitive judgment about their abilities and tend to show career hesitance when deciding on careers, resulting in anxiety or depression.…”