AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF MICHELLE OSTIEN, for the Master of Science degree in FOOD AND NUTRITION, presented on November 20, 2008, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN FEMALES WITH REGARDS TO PERFECTIONISM IN THOSE WITH ANOREXIA NERVOSA, HIGH BMI (BINGE EATERS VS. NON-BINGE EATERS), AND THOSE SEEKING A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Sharon Peterson One in five women in the United States struggle with an eating disorder or distorted eating patterns (National Institute of Mental Health, 2001). Perfectionism, one of the risk factors for developing an eating disorder, is a trait that many of these women have in common. While much research has been done on perfectionism in women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, few studies have looked at perfectionism in women with binge eating disorder (Pratt, Telch, Labouvie, Wilson, & Agras, 2001). Our study sought to further understand the similarities and differences of the total and individual components of perfectionism in females seeking a healthier lifestyle, high BMI binge eaters, high BMI non-binge eaters, and anorexics. Our study found that the first component of the perfectionism scale (representing self-oriented perfectionism) was found to be significant between groups (p=0.002). When comparing females seeking a healthier lifestyle to high BMI binge eaters, females seeking a healthier lifestyle were more likely to answer "no", while high BMI binge eaters were more likely to answer "yes" (p=0.006). When comparing females seeking a healthier lifestyle to anorexics, females seeking a healthier lifestyle were more likely to answer "no" when compared to anorexics (p=0.033). When comparing high BMI binge eaters to high BMI non-binge eaters, high BMI binge eaters were also more likely to answer "yes" to this question when compared to high BMI non-binge eaters (p=0.048). Compared to 76.9% (N=10) of female anorexics, 74.4% (N=32) of female high BMI binge eaters, 50.0% (N=32) of female high BMI non-binge eaters, and 31.2 % (N=5) of females seeking a healthier lifestyle answered "yes" to perfectionism component one, which represented self-oriented perfectionism. Anorexics had the greatest tendency for perfectionism, followed by binge eaters, and then non-binge eaters. This study demonstrated that self-oriented perfectionism is the greatest indicator of perfectionism between subject groups and that perfectionism does exist in binge eaters.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Sportsmen and –women, professional and amateur alike, are faced with multiple pressures that often poses an ultimate hindrance on their performance. Some of these pressures include performance anxiety, fatigue and burnout, and negative physiological arousal resultant of performance and perfectionism. The latter, is often a construct that is misunderstood by athletes, coaches, sport managers and spectators, to have a purely negative consequence on an athlete’s performance and sports career. Theory (Flett & Hewitt, 2005; Gotwals, Stoeber, Dunn & Stoll, 2012; Hamachek, 1978) suggests, however, that perfectionism does not only have a negative consequence, but very often, it has a positive influence on a sporting performance. Thus, it is assumed that in the sporting society, perfectionism holds a false ideology. The constructs of perfectionism and personality often correlates with one another, particularly because of the theoretical link between the personality trait Neuroticism, and perfectionism. This ideology is no different among athletes. Sportsmen and -women often strive for perfection within their performance, which is known to most as a debilitating phenomenon in which they need to understand and reduce. However, Gotwals et al. (2012) have found this ideology to be a controversial issue as they have found that in sport, perfectionism is less of a debilitating phenomenon and more of an adaptive phenomenon. In order to better understand the entire construct of perfectionism, it becomes necessary to analyse the relationship it has with personality.

The longitudinal relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement in high school students, along with the potential mediating effects of depression symptoms were examined. Specifically, 626 Canadian adolescents from the McMaster Teen Study were followed prospectively from Grade 9 to Grade 12. Using path analysis, results demonstrated a positive relation between academic achievement and both self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, in particular, in the earlier high school years. Additionally, socially prescribed perfectionism and depression symptoms were found to be concurrently related at each time. Results suggested that developmental pathways between these variables may only begin to emerge toward the end of high school, potentially as a result of increased stress, as well as the developmental increase that is seen in depressive disorders. Finally, a negative reciprocal relation was found between depression symptoms and academic achievement, which supports the idea that depression could either lead to lower achievement or be elicited by failure. Although symptoms of depression were not found to mediate the relation between self-oriented or socially prescribed perfectionism and academic achievement, the expansion of time points examined might help to clarify the developmental pattern of the relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement. Clinical implications, strengths and limitations, and future directions are discussed.

In the present study, we used a top-down approach to examine perfectionism and loneliness as additive sociocognitive predictors of depressive and anxious symptoms in a sample of 121 Latina college students. Consistent with expectations, we found perfectionism and loneliness to be associated with both depressive and anxious symptoms. In addition, results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that certain dimensions of perfectionism, especially doubts about actions, accounted for significant variance in both depressive and anxious symptoms. Moreover, the inclusion of loneliness as a predictor was found to predict additional unique variance in both depressive and anxious symptoms beyond what was accounted for by perfectionism. Implications of the present findings for future research on negative affective conditions in Latinas are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perfectionism and social anxiety in general as well as social phobia, specifically. Subjects completed the Personal Standards Scale, the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale, and the Social Phobia and Agoraphobia Inventory. Results indicated that neurotic perfectionism is positively associated with both general social anxiety and social phobia. Moreover, the neurotic elements of perfectionism -- "concern over making mistakes" and "doubts about actions" -- appeared to be better predictors of social anxiety than high performance standards alone. Differences between social phobia and social anxiety secondary to agoraphobia as related to perfectionism were addressed, and directions for future research are discussed.

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Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study was to determine the nature, origin and negative consequences of perfectionism and to set guidelines for the therapeutic handling of perfectionism. Two literature studies were done to investigate the phenomenon and therapeutic techniques with regards to perfectionsim. A questionnaire was developed as aid to the therapist to identify negative perfectionism and associated problem areas. An empirical study was done to investigate the effectivity of the questionnaire and to compose a program and guidelines for the therapist and perfectionist. Results of the study indicated that negative perfectionism resulted in affective, cognitive, interpersonal and behavioural consequences for the client. It further showed that it is necessary to find the origin of the client's perfectionism and to give them insight in their problem to enable the therapist to succesfully apply cognitive behavioral therapy. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

Perfectionism has long been recognized as a factor that is central to understanding psychological disorders, as it is significantly higher in the majority of psychological disorders compared to the general population. The construct of perfectionism was examined in this research by exploring differences between positive and negative perfectionism. The literature to date has focused almost exclusively on perfectionism as a maladaptive construct, with little research examining if perfectionism can be a positive factor. The implication of the study was to determine if some factors identified may be potentially important in future treatments targeted towards perfectionism, as there is some evidence to suggest that perfectionism may predict poorer response to standard cognitive behavioural treatment. This research compared three different groups; (i) a clinical group with diagnoses of anxiety and depression (n = 40); (ii) a group of athletes (n = 111) and (iii) a student control group (n = 101). The research consisted of 5 studies. In Study 1, evidence was found for the validity, consistency of factor structure and internal consistency of the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Subscale (PANPS; Terry-Short, Owens, Slade, & Dewey, 1995). In Study 2, clinical participants with a range of diagnoses were found to have significantly higher overall perfectionism and negative perfectionism compared to athletes and controls. Rigidity predicted higher positive perfectionism. Dichotomous thinking accounted for a large proportion of variance in negative perfectionism, and was argued to be an important factor distinguishing between positive and negative perfectionism. In Study 3, positive perfectionism was found to relate to faster performance time in athletes competing in triathlons, and negative perfectionism was not found to impede sporting performance. / The Big Five personality domains were investigated in Study 4, and Agreeableness was found to be a significant predictor of negative perfectionism in the clinical group. In comparing clinical and athlete groups, athletes had significantly lower Neuroticism, and higher Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Study 5 was a clinical descriptive study that examined motivation to change and cognitions about failure in a select sample of clinical participants with extreme high scores on negative perfectionism and athletes with extreme low scores. The clinical participants reported many negative consequences, yet despite this recognition, the majority reported they did not wish to change perfectionism. Also, as the level of negative perfectionism increased, the degree of diagnostic comorbidity increased. It was concluded that it may be more useful to distinguish between positive achievement striving and negative perfectionism rather than positive and negative perfectionism. Clinical implications were outlined which included targeting dichotomous thinking and resistance to change in the development of treatments for perfectionism.

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of this study was to determine the nature, origin and negative consequences of perfectionism and to set guidelines for the therapeutic handling of perfectionism. Two literature studies were done to investigate the phenomenon and therapeutic techniques with regards to perfectionsim. A questionnaire was developed as aid to the therapist to identify negative perfectionism and associated problem areas. An empirical study was done to investigate the effectivity of the questionnaire and to compose a program and guidelines for the therapist and perfectionist. Results of the study indicated that negative perfectionism resulted in affective, cognitive, interpersonal and behavioural consequences for the client. It further showed that it is necessary to find the origin of the client's perfectionism and to give them insight in their problem to enable the therapist to succesfully apply cognitive behavioral therapy. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Voorligting)