Life Story of Chinese College Students with Perfectionism Personality: A Qualitative Study Based on a Life Story Model

Abstract

This manuscript aims to explore and delineate the common characteristics of college students with perfectionism, to promote an in-depth understanding of dynamic personality development of perfectionists from the views of life story model proposed by McAdams (1985). The researchers adopted a narrative qualitative research method. The life stories of respondents who had a strong tendency of perfectionism were analyzed. We found out that participants experienced intensive feelings of superiority and inferiority due to fluctuations of academic performance. Most respondents tended to use negative tone in describing their interpersonal relationship. Respondents hold high expectations for their future. Moreover, they tended to believe that some supernatural power controls the world and the lives. Themes of life story of perfectionists normally focused on three themes: self-control, status and success, and love and friendship. The perfectionists with negative tone usually show that they are only pursuing a powerful energy, a sense of control, and status.

Argentine validation of the Purpose in Life Test / Validación argentina del Test de Propósito en la Vida

“…Although qualitative approaches have been recorded for the study of purpose in life (McAdams, 2008) in different contexts such as Australia (Browne-Yung, Walker, & Luszcz, 2015), China (Ma & Zi, 2015) and Canada (Alisat & Pratt, 2012; Soucie, Lawford, & Pratt, 2012), the vast majority of papers are inclined to a quantitative evaluation (Cotton Bronk, 2014). The emphasis on this type of approach is characteristic of what has been called ‘mainstream psychology’, because it seems to substantiate and legitimize the scientificity of research (Talak, 2014).…”

“…Si bien se han registrado enfoques cualitativos para el estudio del propósito en la vida (McAdams, 2008) en diferentes contextos como Australia (Browne-Yung, Walker, & Luszcz, 2015), China (Ma & Zi, 2015) o Canadá (Alisat & Pratt, 2012; Soucie, Lawford, & Pratt, 2012), la amplia mayoría de los trabajos se inclinan por una evaluación de tipo cuantitativa (Cotton Bronk, 2014). El énfasis en este tipo de abordaje resulta característico de lo que se ha llamado la corriente principal o mainstream psychology debido a que parece fundamentar y legitimar la cientificidad de las investigaciones (Talak, 2014).…”

Awareness and Awakening: A Narrative-Oriented Inquiry of Undergraduate Students' Development of Mindful Agency in China

“…According to Ma and Zi (2015), there are two types of perfectionism: negative perfectionists are closely related to fear of failure, high objective and strict norm; positive perfectionism has strong relationship with positive self-evaluation and self-expectation. The perfectionist disposition can be beneficial if students learn to embrace this characteristic and transform it into a positive type.…”

You just want a break from the hatred of failure: The lived experience of being a student physiotherapist perfectionist and considerations for educators

“…Similarly, in an expressive writing task, Merrell et al (2011) found that personal expectations, stress and avoidance themes permeated writings among perfectionists. Using a narrative life story model to explore characteristics of student perfectionists, Ma & Zi (2015) found that perfectionists described their lives with negative tone, while Farmer et al (2017) illuminated participants' loneliness and relationship problems in their analysis of narrative interviews. Supporting the idea that perfectionists are concerned with achievement, self-control and recognition for success, in their mixed methods study, Mackinnon, et al (2013) reported that perfectionism was associated with status and victory themes rather than communion.…”