The Family Almost Perfect Scale: Development, psychometric properties, and comparing Asian and European Americans.

Abstract

This article describes two studies related to the development and psychometric evaluation of the Family Almost Perfect Scale (FAPS), which measures the perceived level of perfectionistic standards and evaluation from one's family. In Study 1 (N = 283), exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the FAPS scale items. In Study 2, the FAPS was cross-validated through confirmatory factor analyses with an Asian/Asian American sample (N = 252) and a European American sample (N = 386). These two samples were compared on study variables and Asians/Asian Americans reported modestly higher personal and family discrepancy and lower self-esteem. Participants were also grouped into different perceived perfectionistic family types. Those that perceived having maladaptively perfectionistic families reported greater depression and lower self-esteem. Implications for counseling and future directions for research are also discussed.

Examining legalism, scrupulosity, family perfectionism, and psychological adjustment among LDS individuals

“…Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS are highly religious (Allen & Heppner, 2011;Allen & Wang, 2014), and the importance of the family is a critical aspect of their doctrine and practice (Hinckley, 1995). The literature lacks information related to psychological adjustment among LDS families who may experience perfectionistic stress (Allen & Wang, 2014;Wang, 2010). Investigating the association of these constructs with psychological adjustment among religious LDS families could not only increase our understanding of this issue among this population, but also guide mental health professionals to provide assistance to LDS clients (Allen & Wang, 2014).…”

“…Family perfectionism includes adaptive and maladaptive aspects that are parallel to personal perfectionism. Having higher family standards has been associated with higher self-esteem (Wang, 2010), and family discrepancy has been linked with depressive and anxiety symptoms (Ortega, Wang, Slaney, Hayes, & Morales, 2014). In addition, family discrepancy has been linked to suicidal risks, serving as a moderator that intensifies the positive associations between interpersonal risk factors (i.e., perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) and suicide ideation (Wang, Wong, & Fu, 2013).…”

“…One important source is the family, especially for individuals from collectivistic cultures/communities that place high value on the family. Wang (2010) argued for the importance of studying family perfectionism, the perception that family members are imposing perfectionistic standards or critical evaluations on the individual. Family perfectionism includes adaptive and maladaptive aspects that are parallel to personal perfectionism.…”

Perfectionism in African American students: Relationship to racial identity, GPA, self-esteem, and depression.

“…A common initial step in establishing cultural validity for constmcts is to compare ethnic minority groups to European Americans, However, it seems more relevant to examine perfectionism using culturally relevant constructs among the target ethnic/ cultural groups (Wang, 2010), Psychologists have consistently identified racial identity as an important construct related to psychosocial outcomes for African Americans, including self-esteem, psychological distress, quality of life, attitude toward education, and stereotype threat (Cokley, 2007), Racial identity is a selfconcept (Cokley, 2007) that may be logically associated with perfectionism, as measured by the APS-R, Its Discrepancy subscale, characterized by the notion of not being good enough, may relate to racial identity development status, especially stages characterized by negative self-views. The High Standards subscale, which is associated with self-esteem (Mobley et al,, 2005), may also be indirectly related to different racial identity stages.…”

Cultural Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

“…Recent achievements by cultural psychologists offer an alternative to those practices. The creation of indigenous scales, for example, provide better explanations of local responses to psychological stressors (Wang 2010). A fine example of this is Gaithri Fernando (2008) who was working in Sri Lanka after the tsunami in 2004 and created her own measure of trauma symptoms in order to account for the unique symptom clusters she saw there (Watters 2010).…”