Citation

Parker WD. Am. Educ. Res. J. 1997; 34(3): 545-562.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Educational Research Association, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3102/00028312034003545

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A nationally gathered sample of 820 academically talented sixth graders at the Center for Talented Youth of Johns Hopkins University took the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and scores were cluster analyzed using both hierarchical and nonhierarchical cluster analysis with cross-validation. A three-cluster solution was indicated. Students also took the Adjective Check List (Gough & Heilbrun, 1983), the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993) to determine characteristics of cluster membership. Results indicated that the cluster groups comprised a nonperfectionistic type (32.8%), a healthy perfectionistic type (41.7%), and a dysfunctional perfectionistic type (25.5%). Parent perceptions of the children were consistent with the students' self-perceptions. The construct of perfectionism was primarily associated with conscientiousness and secondarily with agreeableness and neurosis.