Although traditional researchers exploring perfectionism frequently cast the construct in a negative light, a steady stream of recent studies have demonstrated that perfectionistic beliefs can yield both positive and negative outcomes. Despite this progression in the research, perfectionism remains an understudied phenomenon among youth, especially as it relates to the ways in which these individuals are perceived by others. The current study builds on the previous literature by exploring adolescent perfectionism across a variety of psychological and psychoeducational dimensions. Moreover, a unique addition to the literature offered by this study was the inclusion of peer-reports along with self-reported measures in hopes of gaining a fuller understanding of the psychosocial characteristics of perfectionistic youth. The incorporation of peer reports also allowed a novel approach to the study of perfectionism by exploring this construct through the lens of their adolescent colleagues. Self and peer reported data was drawn from a sample of 816 ninth grade students representing three separate high schools. MANOVA results revealed a number of differences between perfectionistic subtypes across both self and peer-reported data. More specifically, adaptive perfectionists rated themselves as having less anxiety and depression as compared to their maladaptive and non-perfectionistic counterparts. Adaptive perfectionists were also reported to have stronger interpersonal relationships and greater social connectivity than their peers. Moreover, both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists reported significantly higher GPAs than non-perfectionists. Peer informant data indicated that adaptive perfectionists were rated as having the highest academic expectations followed by maladaptive perfectionists and then non-perfectionists. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences were found between cluster groupings on peer reported social withdrawnness. Findings suggest that adaptive perfectionism is associated with a range of positive psychological, psychoeducational and psychosocial outcomes. Conversely, maladaptive perfectionism appears to be related to several behaviors which may impede healthy adolescent functioning. Implications regarding the improved assessment of perfectionism and intervention strategies aimed at both students and professionals working within the school domain are discussed.

In this study, the relationship between the risk factors of perfectionism and depression and eating disorder symptomatology was examined. A sample of female undergraduates completed the following three measures: the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), and the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses (Q-EDD). Results indicated that perfectionism is significantly positively correlated with depression. Higher levels of perfectionism were also associated with the presence of eating disorder symptoms, whereas lower levels of perfectionism were associated with the absence of eating disorder symptoms. Finally, an increase in perfectionism levels was predictive of eating disorder symptoms. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Compulsive exercise has been observed as a significant feature of the eating disorders throughout their history. It has variously been conceptualised as primarily an analogue of purgation, an emotion regulation strategy, an addiction, or an obsessivecompulsive behaviour, with evidence supporting each to varying degrees. The importance of compulsive exercise is underlined by the finding that it often precedes the onset of an eating disorder and is one of the last symptoms to subside. In addition, it is associated with a longer length of hospitalisation and higher rates of relapse. As a result, compulsive exercise is now recognised as a significant factor in the aetiology, development and maintenance of the eating disorders across diagnoses. Yet despite the importance of compulsive exercise and previous recommendations to target it, no clear conceptual model of compulsive exercise exists upon which an intervention could be based. This thesis has three broad aims: (1) critically review the evidence for and against factors implicated in the maintenance of compulsive exercise and propose a new theoretically coherent and empirically derived model of compulsive exercise that could be used to inform future cognitive-behavioural interventions; (2) develop and provide preliminary validation for a new measure of compulsive exercise; and (3) present six studies utilising the new measure of compulsive exercise to empirically test some of the relationships suggested by the proposed model. Main findings: The resulting Compulsive Exercise Test (CET) is a new multidimensional measure of compulsive exercise, consistent with the proposed cognitive-behavioural conceptualisation, and demonstrating good psychometric properties. Utilising the CET, the empirical chapters demonstrate that compulsive exercise was associated with (a) elevated levels of eating-disordered cognitions and increased frequency of eating-disordered behaviours, (b) avoidanceoriented coping and a range of difficulties in regulating emotions, and (c) perfectionism (particularly the self-critical dimension). Implications: The current findings provide preliminary support for the proposed cognitive-behavioural maintenance model of compulsive exercise. This may inform clinical interventions and prevention programs designed to address compulsive exercise, as well as enhancing current treatment efficacy by providing specific targets for intervention. In addition, the new measure of compulsive exercise is potentially a useful screening tool in formulating the maintenance of an individual's exercise behaviour, and is further a potentially useful research and outcome tool.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The influences on perfectionism and procrastination of race, gender, cognitive-affective and academic self-appraisals, and academic performance expectations were studied. The sample consisted of 155 Introductory Psychology students (57 African Americans, 41 Asian Americans, and 57 European Americans; 51.6% women) with a mean age of 19.4 years (SD = 3.6). Data were collected during the final week of the Fall 2007 semester. Consistent with previous research indicating that men are more likely to procrastinate than women, men were over-represented in this sample. Self-esteem, measured with the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, was conceptualized as having two components: self-liking and self-competence (Tafarodi & Milne, 2002). Guilt- and shame-proneness were measured with the Test of Self-Conscious Affect, Version 3, Short-form (TOSCA-3S; Tangney & Dearing, 2002). Academic self-confidence was measured with the Personal Evaluation Inventory (Shrauger & Schohn, 1995). A number of single-item questions concerning aspects related to students' Grade Point Average (GPA) were included. The High Standards and Discrepancy scales of the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) represented the criterions of adaptive (AP) and maladaptive perfectionism (MP), respectively. The Aitken (1982) Procrastination Inventory was used as the criterion for procrastination. Components of self-esteem differentially predicted perfectionism. African Americans were significantly lower in shame-proneness. While there were non-perfectionists and AP's/MP's in each race and gender, African Americans were significantly higher in AP and Asian Americans were significantly higher in MP. Additionally, Asian American men were more likely to procrastinate. These results counter the "model minority" stereotype of Asian Americans, showing that they are at higher risk for personal and academic distress than their Black and White classmates. While women had higher GPA's and were more likely to be AP's, men had higher levels of academic self-confidence and expected to achieve higher GPA's. Regardless of race or gender, students with GPA's of 3.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) were more likely to be both types of perfectionists. Academic self-confidence was a significant positive predictor of AP and a negative predictor for MP and procrastination. This suggests that helping students improve their academic self-confidence could have many benefits.

A presente tese pretende estudar dois modelos de função judicial o perfeccionismo (perfectionism) e o minimalismo (minimalism) judicial delineados por Cass Sunstein, destacando os seus fundamentos filosóficos, suas principais teses hermenêuticas, suas limitações decisórias e suas contribuições para o desenho institucional das relações entre os Poderes de Estado. O presente trabalho desenvolverá, neste sentido, duas perspectivas fundamentais, que são complementares, para o estudo das relações entre o constitucionalismo e a democracia nos sistemas político-jurídicos contemporâneos: em primeiro lugar, uma perspectiva hermenêutica, cuja preocupação reside, sobretudo, na sistematização das principais teses de cada um dos dois modelos no tocante à interpretação do texto constitucional. Em segundo lugar, será realizada uma abordagem institucionalista sobre as possíveis alternativas ao protagonismo do Supremo Tribunal Federal em termos de sua atuação como última instância na definição do significado dos dispositivos constitucionais. Para tanto, serão analisados, com apoio em um estudo comparativo, propostas de diálogo institucional que podem ser fomentadas a partir de uma visão minimalista de moderação judicial que contrasta, por sua vez, com a defesa hegemônica de uma atuação institucional ativista das cortes constitucionais na atualidade. Por último, com apoio nos modelos de função judicial delineados, será elaborada uma análise crítica da atividade jurisdicional dos ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal com fundamento no exame da argumentação empreendida em seus votos em casos constitucionais difíceis de grande repercussão política, moral e social. / The present thesis intends to study two models of judicial function perfectionism and judicial minimalism delineated by Cass Sunstein, emphasizing their philosophical foundations, their main hermeneutical theories, their decisional limitations and contributions for the institutional design of the relations among the Powers of State. The work in question will develop, in this sense, two fundamental perspectives, that are complementary for the study of the relationships between constitutionalism and democracy in the contemporary political-juridical systems: in first place, an hermeneutical perspective, whose concern resides, above all, in the systemization of the main theories of each one of the two models concerning the interpretation of the constitutional text. In second place, an institutionalist approach will be attempted on the possible alternatives to the protagonism of the Federal Supreme Court in terms of its performance as "last instance" in the definition of the meaning of the constitutional devices. Therefore, proposals of "institutional dialogue" will be analyzed, with support in a comparative study, that can be fomented from a minimalist point of view of judicial moderation that contrasts with the hegemonic defense of an "activist" institutional performance of the constitutional courts at the present time. Lastly, with support in the delineated models of judicial function, a critical analysis of the jurisdictional activity of the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court will be elaborated based in the exam of the argument undertaken in their votes in constitutional hard cases of great political, moral and social repercussion.

No description available.

The equivocal and debated findings from a 2007 meta-analysis, which viewed perfectionism as a unidimensional construct, suggested that perfectionism was unrelated to procrastination. The present meta-analysis aimed to provide a conceptual update and reanalysis of the procrastination–perfectionism association guided by both a multidimensional view of perfectionism and self-regulation theory. The random-effects meta-analyses revealed a small to medium positive average effect size (r = .23; k = 43, N = 10 000; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) [0.19, 0.27]) for trait procrastination and perfectionistic concerns and a small to medium negative average effect size (r = −.22; k = 38, N = 9544; 95% CI [−0.26, −0.18]) for procrastination and perfectionistic strivings. The average correlations remained significant after statistically accounting for the joint variance between the two perfectionism dimensions via semi-partial correlations. For perfectionistic concerns, but not perfectionistic strivings, the effects depended on the perfectionism measure used. All effects did not vary by the trait procrastination measure used or the respondent's sex. Our findings confirm that from a multidimensional perspective, trait procrastination is both positively and negatively associated with higher-order perfectionism dimensions and further highlights the value of a self-regulation perspective for understanding the cognitive, affective and behavioural dynamics that characterise these traits.

The Stress and Coping Cyclical Amplification Model of Perfectionism in Illness posits, that in the context of a chronic illness, both perfectionistic strivings and concerns contribute to poor health outcomes. Similarly, person-centred models, such as the tripartite model of perfectionism, claim that high levels of both perfectionism concerns and strivings reflect an “unhealthy” perfectionism that takes a toll on well-being. To date there are few comparative tests of these models for physical and mental health outcomes in healthy versus chronically ill individuals. The aim of the current study was to investigate the implications of perfectionism for health by testing how within-person combinations of perfectionism varied in relation to health outcomes, and between fibromyalgia patients (n = 89) and healthy controls (n = 123). Supporting both models, within-person combinations of high perfectionistic strivings and concerns were associated with high stress and poor mental and physical health compared to other within-person combinations. These links were more robust for fibromyalgia patients compared to controls, and stress mediated the association with physical health outcomes only for the fibromyalgia patients. Findings support the value of taking a person-centred approach for understanding how perfectionistic strivings contributes to poor health in the context of chronic illness.