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Genetic and environmental contributions to perfectionism and its common factors
Abstract
Methods:
Participants were 258 pairs of adolescent Spanish twins. Socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism were assessed using the perfectionism subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory.
Statistics:
univariate and bivariate twin models, according to sex. Results; Heritability of self-oriented perfectionism was 23% in boys and 30% in girls, and of socially prescribed perfectionism 39% in boys and 42% in girls. Bivariate analysis suggested a common genetic and environmental pathway model. The genetic correlation between both perfectionisms was 0.981 in boys and 0.704 in girls. The non-shared environmental correlation was 0.254 in boys and 0.259 in girls. Conclusions; genetic influences on perfectionism are moderate during adolescence. Our results point toward a shared genetic component underlying both kind of perfectionism. These findings generate doubts about the hypothesis of a leading role of genetics in the pathogenesis of Self-oriented perfectionism and of environment in socially prescribed. The high genetic correlation seems to indicate that self-oriented and socially prescribed are the same dimension of perfectionism.
... 18 Children with bruxism frequently present a family history of bruxism 4 ; specific personality traits could, therefore, also be found in their parents and be genetically transmitted or cultivated, which has been postulated as an influential factor in childhood perfectionism. [17][18][19][20] Since the association between specific personality traits and SB in children is still debated in the literature, this study aimed to determine a potential relationship between childhood bruxism and personality traits in Spanish children and their parents, investigated whether children with bruxism and their parents are more likely to be perfectionists than the control group, and established whether there is a relationship between childhood bruxism and other peripheral factors. ...
... 6,13 Perfectionism can be considered a personality trait or a behaviour in certain situations. 19 This study found a significant relationship between childhood bruxism and the self-demandingness parameter in the IPI questionnaire. There was a tendency in children with SB to have worse self-assessments. ...
... Low self-assessment, shame, doubt and frequent thoughts of failure are characteristics of maladaptive perfectionism, which is considered a lack of emotional control predictor. 17,19 This is an interesting finding since a self-demanding nature in the child has been suggested to be a protective factor for anxiety and depression when not influenced by negative self-evaluation, establishing a difference between positive adaptive perfectionism and negative maladaptive perfectionism. 27 The TWI 22 was used to quantify dental wear in children, allowing us to settle a cut-off point between physiological and pathological conditions. ...
Abstract
Background: The aetiology of Sleep bruxism includes specific personality traits, related to perfectionism.
Aim: To investigate the relationship between probable sleep bruxism (PSB) and personality traits in children and their parents, determining whether children with PSB and their parents are more perfectionists.
Design: This case–control study included 104 children aged 8–9 years, 52 cases and 52 controls. A clinical examination was performed on the children who completed the Big Five Personality Questionnaire (BFQ-NA) and the Child Perfectionism Inventory. Parents completed a bruxism diagnostic questionnaire according to the AASM criteria, BFQ and Frost multidimensional perfectionism scale questionnaires. t-Tests
for independent samples and multivariate logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis.
Results: A significant relationship between PSB and a self demanding personality (OR = 1.11, p = .01), restless sleep (OR = 4.41, p = .004), and a family history of clenching and grinding teeth (OR = 3.07, p = .0006) was found in a binary logistic
regression model. When adjusted, only restless sleep showed a significant relationship with PSB (p = .03, OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.13–9.81).
Conclusion: Children whose parents reported as clenching or grinding their teeth while asleep in the previous 6 months, and who were found to have abnormal dental wear, had significantly more nightmares, sleep disruption, daytime sleepiness, family history of bruxism, and tended to be more perfectionist.
KEYWORDS
bruxism, child, perfectionism, personality, psychosocial factors, sleep bruxism
... Core characteristics of grandiose narcissism are the inflated sense of importance and the search for flawless excellence Horney, 1950;Krizan & Herlache, 2018;Thomaes et al., 2009). ...
... In other words, grandiose narcissism exerted a significant contribution to the development of perfectionism. This finding is in accordance with results from behavioural genetic studies, which have shown that both narcissism (Luo & Huajian, 2018) and perfectionism (Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015) are heritable, but the first has a larger genetic component. It is also consistent with established theories on the development of perfectionism. ...
The current study investigates the longitudinal association between grandiose narcissism and multidimensional perfectionism over 2 years in adolescence. We adopted the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept, which differentiates between two aspects of grandiose narcissism. We also considered multiple dimensions of perfectionism, including Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and two forms of Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP), namely the tendencies to set high standards of performance (SOP-Striving) and to engage in overly critical self-evaluations (SOP-Critical). The study was conducted in a sample of Italian high school students (n = 331). Concurrent correlations indicated that Admiration was positively related to SOP-Striving and, to a lesser extent, to SOP-Critical and SPP. Rivalry was also positively related to the three perfectionistic dimensions, although correlations were smaller in size than those found for Admiration. Prospective associations between narcissism and perfectionism were analysed using a Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model. Results showed that the predominant direction of effects was from narcissism to perfectionism, particularly from Admiration to SOP-Striving and SPP. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the understanding of the narcissism-perfectionism link.
... Passive informed consent from parents was obtained. The methods for the DITCA-CV have been reviewed elsewhere [see 14 ]. The inclusion criteria were being 12---18 years old and attending class on the day in which the questionnaires were conducted. ...
... Our results indicated a high agreement between teachers and parents and so, that our method to determine zygosity was accurate. 14 ...
Background and objectives
Behavior-genetic analyses have shown that measurements of inattention and hyperactivity–impulsivity are genetically-influenced. In view of limited studies on ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in Spanish samples, this study aims to explore the genetic architecture of ADHD symptoms; inattention and hyperactivity–impulsivity in a Spanish twin schoolchildren sample.
Methods
Participants were 258 pairs of adolescent Spanish twins. Symptoms of ADHD, inattention and hyperactivity–impulsivity were assessed by means of a sub-scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Univariate twin models, according to sex, were run to assess the heritability of ADHD symptoms.
Results
Heritability of hyperactivity was 55% in girls, 57% in boys. Inattention showed a heritability of 26% in girls, and no genetic factors influence was found in boys. Environmental factors are prominent influences among these traits.
Conclusion
Our results highlight the magnitude of environmental effects among ADHD symptoms and therefore the importance of preventive programs that may modify the expression of these traits.
... In addition, an authoritarian parenting style, internalized parental values, academic achievement, personality traits, and genetics all play a role in the development of both types of perfectionism. During adolescence, however, environmental factors are more influential than genetic factors in the expression of perfectionism (Iranzo-Tatay et al. 2015). ...
... Each of these is partly hereditary. Genetics influences 40% to 55% of "the Big Five" personality traits (Bouchard & Mcgue, 2002); 47% of sensory processing sensitivity (Greven et al., 2019); 25% to 40% of perfectionism (Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015) and 25% of optimism (Plomin et al., 1992). ...
... Conclusion: This research has yielded inconsistent results when compared to other studies conducted in the past (Burcaş & Creţu, 2021;Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015;Kamakura et al., 2003;Moser et al., 2012;Tozzi et al., 2004;Wade & Bulik, 2007). A unique aspect of this study is that it represents the proportion of genetics and environment in OOP for the first time. ...
Both genetic and environmental factors are known to contribute to developing psychological traits, including perfectionism. Consequently, the objective of this study was to estimate the heritability of perfectionism among monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins using the Hewitt & Flett Multidimensional Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991).
174 MZ and DZ twins participated in this study, and perfectionism was assessed using the Hewitt & Flett Multidimensional Scale (1991). Determination of the twins' zygosity was accomplished by using Song et al. (2010) self-report questionnaire. The classical univariate twin model was used to estimate the heritability of perfectionism.
Univariate analysis suggested both environmental and genetic pathways to perfectionism’s subscales. To be more precise, the results showed that self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) was explained by the common environment (C), with 0.48 and 0.68 influenced by C, respectively, and 0.52 and 0.32 influenced by the specific environment (E). Additionally, the effect of additive genetics (A) on other-oriented perfectionism (OOP) was approximately twice that of the E effect.
This research has yielded inconsistent results when compared to other studies conducted in the past (Burcaş & Creţu, 2021; Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015; Kamakura et al., 2003; Moser et al., 2012; Tozzi et al., 2004; Wade & Bulik, 2007). A unique aspect of this study is that it represents the proportion of genetics and environment in OOP for the first time. One possible explanation for the results of the present study could be that as individualism increases among Iranians, Iranian society focuses more on individualistic accomplishments. As a result, the effect of the environment in SOP is stronger than genes. Meanwhile, since Iranian youngsters are more individualistic than ever, they do not expect others to be perfect, so the environment is less influential in the development of OOP. On the other hand, there are still some factors like families and the education system of Iran that put pressure on people to be perfect. Therefore, the role of the environment in the development of SPP is much stronger than genes.
... The genetic contribution to the intergenerational transmission of perfectionism has been reported by some authors. A Spanish study [19] showed that SPP presents a heritability of 39% in boys and 42% in girls, respectively, whereas SOP presents a heritability of 23% in boys and 30% in girls, respectively. From another study [20], it emerged that some aspects of perfectionism, such as personal standards, seem to be more heavily affected by genetics, whereas others, such as doubts about actions, might be more dependent on the environment. ...
Introduction:
The relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and Internalizing (ID) and Externalizing Disorders (ED) in children needs to be better understood, along with the intergenerational transmission of these traits from parents to children. The present work aimed to share light on both these issues.
Method:
39 children with ID, 19 with ED, and their parents were recruited*. The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Big Five Inventory, the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, and the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children were used. The association between parent personality and perfectionism traits and children's perfectionism dimensions was evaluated through hierarchical regression analysis.
Results:
ID and ED groups did not differ significantly concerning perfectionism. Fathers presented higher scores than mothers in Self-Oriented Perfectionism, Other-Oriented Perfectionism, and Socially-Prescribed Perfectionism. Parents of children with ID report higher levels of Obedience in their children, while parents of children with ED reported higher levels of Creativity and Perseverance. Significant associations were found between perfectionism in parents and their children, as well as between perfectionism and the personality of children.
Conclusion:
Results suggest a transdiagnostic nature of Perfectionism and support the transgenerational transmission of the personality traits investigated.
... We integrate theories on attachment, self-actualization, and self psychology into an integrative account of perfectionism and self-regulation. There is also some limited research supporting moderate genetic influences on perfectionism (Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015;Tozzi et al., 2004), but our emphasis here is on environmental precursors, some of which potentially interact with genetic predisposition. ...
... Second, related to the first point, most people who report being 'perfectionistic' identify multiple domains in which they are perfectionistic, rather than only one (see Stoeber & Stoeber, 2009). Third, and finally, in twin studies examining perfectionism, a substantial proportion of variability in perfectionism can be attributed to common genetic factors (up to 42%; e.g., Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015). The amount of variance for some dimensions of perfectionism is similar to other personality characteristics normally considered traits (e.g., Big Five; Bouchard & McGue, 2003). ...
Great Britain’s Tom Daley won the gold medal in the men’s 10 metre platform dive at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. In winning the medal, Daley was awarded 12 perfect scores across six dives. Chen Aisen, the double gold winner at the 2016 Summer Olympics, was awarded three perfect scores of his own and won the silver medal. In this case, three instances of perfection simply weren’t enough to win the competition. It is scenarios like this that underscore why the study of perfectionism is so important in sport. In most other areas of life, perfection is ambiguous, elusive, and irrational. In sport, though, perfection can be more tangible, objective and, for athletes at the very highest levels, attainable. These factors may explain why so many athletes identify themselves as perfectionists and why some researchers and practitioners have come to view perfectionism as a hallmark characteristic of elite performers (e.g., Gould, Dieffenbach, & Moffett, 2002). It is important to bear in mind, however, that from a personality perspective perfectionism is more than the standards people have for themselves. Rather, perfectionism is an engrained way of thinking, feeling and behaving that, paradoxically, can quite easily undermine athlete motivation, performance and wellbeing (Flett & Hewitt, 2014). As it is common to find perfectionistic people in sport, and because perfectionism is so easily misunderstood, we consider perfectionism to be a valuable addition to an Encyclopaedia of Sport Psychology. We have structured our entry around four topics. The topics covered are (1) the multidimensional structure of perfectionism, (2) its transcontextual nature, (3) whether “healthy” perfectionists exist and (4) what the likely consequences of perfectionism are in sport. These are key topics in this area of research and will provide a valuable reference for students, researchers and practitioners interested in perfectionism in sport.
... School teachers answered this questionnaire. Teachers' determination of zygosity has previously been validated by our group (see 20 ). ...
significantly increase during puberty. The goal of this research is to evaluate changes during puberty which could have genetic and environmental influences on a broad spectrum of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Methods. Participants were 158 pairs of adolescent female twins, categorized in two groups according to menarche stage (pre or post). ED measures: Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors were assessed by means of the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test and four sub-scales of the Eating Disorders Inventory: Drive for thinness, Body dissatisfaction, Ineffectiveness, and Perfectionism. Intra-class correlations in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins were calculated separately in premenarche and premenarche group for each ED subscale Results. 48 premenarche twins (30 MZ twins and 18 DZ twins) and 110 premenarche twins (66 MZ and 44 DZ twins) were included. The intra-class correlations suggested no genetic influence on the total ChEAT score of participants at the premenarche stage. For the premenarche participants, however, sources of variance suggested a very high heritability. Regarding the EDI sub-scales, only the trait “Ineffectiveness” exhibited a moderate heritability among premenarche subjects, while all the four eating sub-scales showed moderate heritability estimates in the premenarche stage group. Conclusions. Our findings reveal that there are significant differences in genetic and environmental effects on eating attitudes and behaviors depending on being in a premenarche or premenarche stage. Therefore, clinicians should pay attention to female adolescents at high risk of developing ED, especially during the critical period of menarche.
... .38-.62-values Johnson et al. (2004) .68 Kandler (2012) .49-.54 Kandler et al. (2016) .37-.47 Perfectionism Iranzo-Tatay et al. (2015) .23-.30-self-oriented .39-.42-socially prescribed Social potency Arvey et al. (2006) .54 ...
In this article, we provide a wide-ranging review of recent research on leader individual differences. The review focuses specifically on the explosion of such research in the last decade. The first purpose of this review is to summarize and integrate various conceptual frameworks describing how leader attributes influence leader emergence and leader effectiveness. The second purpose is to provide a comprehensive review of empirical research on this relationship. Also, most prior reviews primarily examined leader personality traits; this review includes a broader array of leader attributes, including cognitive capacities, personality, motives and values, social skills, and knowledge and expertise. The final broad purpose of this paper is to review and integrate situational and contextual parameters into our conceptual framing of leader individual differences. Few, if any, prior reviews have systematically accounted for the critical role of such parameters in cuing, activating, or delimiting the effects of particular leader attributes. We do so in this article.
... In research on personality and individual differences, the term "trait" usually refers to stable individual differences with high cross-situational consistency that have a neuro-biological basis and are to a significant extent inherited. Like most individual differences, perfectionism has a genetic component (see Iranzo-Tatay et al., 2015, for a review). ...
In this concluding chapter, I follow the approach of the introductory chapter in taking a personal perspective to discuss what I see are critical issues, open questions, and future directions in perfectionism research. Because all chapters of this book address open questions and future directions, I only discuss topics that the chapters did not cover or that I would like to emphasize again. These include the definition and measurement of perfectionism, the question of whether perfectionism is a trait or a disposition, the need for more longitudinal studies, and the search for mediators and moderators. Further, I make a call for more research on perfectionism going beyond self-reports and point to three areas that I believe are “under-researched”: perfectionism at work; ethnic, cultural, and national differences in perfectionism; and perfectionism across the lifespan. Moreover, I address three critical issues that I find problematic because they may present obstacles to further progress in our understanding of perfectionism: focusing on perfectionistic concerns (and ignoring perfectionistic strivings), employing cluster analyses to investigate differences in multidimensional perfectionism, and assessing perfectionism with measures that do not measure perfectionism.
... Finally, perfectionism also seems to have a genetic component. Twin studies suggest that individual differences in perfectionism are partly inherited with heritability estimates ranging from 23 % to 54 % depending on what aspects and dimensions of perfectionism were regarded (Iranzo-Tatay et al. 2015). ...
Perfectionism has been associated with higher levels of psychological maladjustment and disorder in adolescence and lower levels of subjective well-being and psychological adjustment. Perfectionism, however, is a multidimensional disposition, and not all dimensions of perfectionism are necessarily unhealthy or maladaptive. This entry presents an overview about perfectionism in adolescence and the main dimensions of perfectionism: perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. It shows how the two dimensions are related to subjective well-being, psychological adjustment and maladjustment, and disorder. Moreover, it informs on how perfectionism can be measured and what factors influence the development of perfectionism in children and adolescents. Finally, the entry will discuss what is still unknown about perfectionism and why the notion that perfectionism can be healthy or adaptive is controversially debated.
Purpose The purpose of the present article is to systematize knowledge about perfectionism - the relatively stable tendency to set unrealistic expectations for oneself or others. The article reviews studies conducted in recent years and presents the evolution of views on the development and importance of perfectionism for individual adjustment. Theses Knowledge about perfectionism is constantly expanding, which makes it necessary to describe the history of the study of this phenomenon, the evolution of ways of thinking, and the theoretical models that have emerged over the past decades. There are relatively few publications on this subject in the Polish literature, and the presented article aims to at least partially fill this gap. We present the results of a study on the relationship between perfectionism and important areas of human functioning, such as health, work and interpersonal relations, and point out factors associated with the development of this characteristic. We also present the most popular measures of perfectionism. Conclusion Perfectionism, initially viewed as an unambiguously negative disposition and treated as a predictor of psychopathology, in light of studies conducted in recent years should be treated as a complex personality characteristic that manifests itself manifests itself in different manner, including positive and adaptive ones.
Celem prezentowanego artykułu jest usystematyzowanie wiedzy na temat perfekcjonizmu -- względnie stałej tendencji do stawiania sobie lub innym nierealistycznych oczekiwań. W artykule dokonano przeglądu prowadzonych w ostatnich latach badań oraz zaprezentowano ewolucję poglądów na rozwój i znaczenie perfekcjonizmu dla przystosowania jednostki.
Wiedza na temat perfekcjonizmu ciągle się poszerza, co sprawia, że konieczne jest opisanie historii badań nad tym zjawiskiem, ewolucji sposobów myślenia i powstałych na przestrzeni ostatnich dekad modeli teoretycznych. W literaturze polskiej jest stosunkowo mało publikacji na ten temat, a prezentowany artykuł ma na celu przynajmniej częściowe wypełnienie tej luki. W rozważaniach prezentujemy również wyniki badań nad związkiem perfekcjonizmu z ważnymi dla funkcjonowania człowieka obszarami, takimi jak zdrowie, praca czy relacje interpersonalne, oraz wskazujemy na czynniki związane z rozwojem tej charakterystyki.
Prezentujemy także najpopularniejsze narzędzia do pomiaru perfekcjonizmu.
Perfekcjonizm, początkowo postrzegany jako dyspozycja jednoznacznie negatywna i traktowana jako predyktor psychopatologii, w świetle prowadzonych w ostatnich latach badań powinien być traktowany jako złożona charakterystyka osobowościowa, która manifestuje się na różne sposoby, w tym również pozytywne i adaptacyjne.
Background and aim: Genetic and environmental factors are both effective in creating different psychological traits. Therefore, in addition to recognizing the environmental factors affecting psychological traits, biological factors such as heritability also need to be studied. Thus, the present study aimed to measure the heritability of perfectionism among MZ and DZ twins.
Methods: 174 MZ and DZ twins participated in this study. This study used Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale to measure perfectionism and its subscales. The method used in this study was the classical univariate twin model.
Results: The results of this study showed that both self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) are explained by the CE model. Thus, SOP and SPP are 0.48 and 0.68 under the influence of common environmental factors (C) and 0.52 and 0.32 are under the influence of specific environmental factors (E). It was also found that the other-oriented perfectionism (OOP) is 0.42 under the influence of non-additive genetics (D) and 0.58 under the influence of the E effect. Finally, the effect of additive genetics (A) on total perfectionism was about twice that of the E effect.
Conclusion: Specific and shared environmental factors are effective in SOP and SPP. Total perfectionism is more influenced by genetic factors than environmental factors.
This thesis investigates the relationship between perfectionism and the perceived importance of, and satisfaction with, various components of both the Honors College experience and the experience within majors as rated by University of Maine Honors College students. UMaine Honors College students were recruited to take an online Qualtrics survey. Preliminary descriptive analysis has suggested that, while UMaine Honors College students show average levels of self-oriented perfectionism, they demonstrate exceptionally high levels of socially-prescribed perfectionism, as compared to normative samples. Additionally, UMaine Honors College students exhibit significantly higher ratings of personal importance and satisfaction assigned to components of their major in comparison with the same components of their Honors College experience. Furthermore, correlate analysis has indicated that male Honors College students show a negative correlation between personal importance assigned to major experience, personal satisfaction with major experience and self-oriented and socially-prescribed perfectionism. Further investigation is warranted to develop a better understanding of the extreme mean score of socially-prescribed perfectionism observed in UMaine Honors College students. Future studies might investigate the variables responsible for the lower ratings of importance and satisfaction assigned to the Honors College, relative to their majors. The Personal Importance & Satisfaction Inventory for the UMaine Honors College & Major Experience provides a novel framework to explore variables unseen in extant literature; this inventory, given further research to establish its reliability and validity, shows promise in evaluating weaknesses in Honors College experiences versus within-major experiences, which is a much-needed tool for baccalaureate colleges given Curran & Hill’s (2019) findings that SOP and SPP are currently increasing at dramatic rates among undergraduates.
Perfectionism involves aiming and striving toward excessive goals accompanied with overly critical self-evaluations. In my current theory elaboration, I propose that the cognitive, socio-cognitive, and socio-behavioral manifestations that accompany perfectionism should be operationalized as correlates rather than indicators of the core definitional feature of dispositional perfectionism. I offer arguments to explain how theory, research, and intervention will benefit from separating these signature expressions from the core definitional feature of perfectionism. In this new framework, signature expressions inhabit their own space in the conceptual domain of perfectionism to better explain their role as putative mechanisms involved in the maintenance of perfectionism and its associations with maladjustment. The results of a published meta-analysis are reanalyzed, and a Monte Carlo simulation is presented to show the promises of the current theory elaboration. In closing, six additional arguments are advanced to explain how this rethinking of the conceptual domain of perfectionism addresses many critical issues in the extant literature.
Introduction
Recent meta‐analyses have shown that perfectionism dimensions display significant relationships with the Big Five factors, with the strongest associations being detected between perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism. To date, no research investigating the etiologic factors underlying these relationships has been conducted.
Objective
The aim of our study was to address this literature gap by exploring the genetic and environmental influences that explain the phenotypic associations between perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism.
Method
We used a multivariate twin design and tested two theoretical genetic models, an Independent and a Common Pathway model, on a sample of 678 Romanian twins.
Results
Univariate estimates showed that perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism are moderately heritable (32% ‐ 46%). Multivariate analyses revealed that their phenotypic relationships were largely explained by additive genetic factors (rg between .58 and .73). The best‐fit Independent Pathway model indicated that perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism were influenced directly by some common genetic and environmental factors accounting for approximately half of their individual variance.
Conclusion
The overlap between perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism is mainly explained by a common genetic etiology. However, perfectionistic concerns and neuroticism are still distinct personality features as their variances are also influenced by specific genetic and environmental factors.
With the increasing need for competent nurses specializing in acute and critical care, educators must consider the needs and preferences of students in designing experiential learning programs. This cross-sectional, choice-based conjoint analysis determined the acute and critical care experiential learning preferences of student nurses. From March to July 2016, 213 randomly-selected student nurses from a higher education institution in Manila, Philippines were surveyed and ranked 20 choice bundles with 5 selected attributes of the experiential learning program. Results showed that duration of unit exposure (48.73%) and group structure (7.46%) were the most and least valued attributes, respectively. Additionally, student nurses prefer an experiential learning program that lasts for 1 week (21 h) per unit (utility = 0.93), has a stay-in instructor (utility = 0.30), encourages full student involvement (utility = 1.08), deploys 2–3 students per group (utility = 0.09), and provides both single program and on-going unit orientation (utility = 0.52). Part-worth utilities of duration of unit exposure (t = 3.65, p = 0.0001) and group structure (t = 3.46, p = 0.001) differed between gender. With a model explaining the acute and critical care experiential learning preferences of student nurses, nursing institutions can restructure their clinical placement to maximize positive learning.
The development and validation of a new measure, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is described. The EDI is a 64 item, self-report, multiscale measure designed for the assessment of psychological and behavioral traits common in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia. The EDI consists of eight sub-scales measuring: 1) Drive for Thinness, 2) Bulimia, 3) Body Dissatisfaction, 4) Ineffectiveness, 5) Perfectionism, 6) Interpersonal Distrust, 7) Interoceptive Awareness and 8) Maturity Fears. Reliability (internal consistency) is established for all subscales and several indices of validity are presented. First, AN patients (N = 113) are differentiated from female comparison (FC) subjects (N = 577) using a cross-validation procedure. Secondly, patient self-report subscale scores agree with clinician ratings of subscale traits. Thirdly, clinically recovered AN patients score similarly to FCs on all subscales. Finally, convergent and discriminate validity are established for subscales. The EDI was also administered to groups of normal weight bulimic women, obese, and normal weight but formerly obese women, as well as a male comparison group. Group differences are reported and the potential utility of the EDI is discussed.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between body-related social comparison (BRSC) and eating disorders (EDs) by: (a) comparing the degree of BRSC in adolescents with an ED, depressive disorder (DD), and no psychiatric history; and (b) investigating whether BRSC is associated with ED symptoms after controlling for symptoms of depression and self-esteem. Participants were 75 girls, aged 12-18 (25 per diagnostic group). To assess BRSC, participants reported on a 5-point Likert scale how often they compare their body to others'. Participants also completed a diagnostic interview, Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). Compared to adolescents with a DD and healthy adolescents, adolescents with an ED engaged in significantly more BRSC (p ≤ 0.001). Collapsing across groups, BRSC was significantly positively correlated with ED symptoms (p ≤ 0.01), and these associations remained even after controlling for two robust predictors of both ED symptoms and social comparison, namely BDI-II and RSE. In conclusion, BRSC seems to be strongly related to EDs. Treatment for adolescents with an ED may focus on reducing BRSC.
Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) in Korean patients with eating disorders and healthy controls, and to investigate cultural differences of EDI-2 between a Korean group and a North American standardization sample.
Materials and Methods
The Korean version of the EDI-2 was prepared after comprehensive clinical assessment of Korean patients with eating disorders (n=327) as well as female undergraduates (n=176). Results were compared between eating disorder subgroups (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and eating disorders not otherwise specified) and those of a North American standardization sample and healthy controls.
Results
The results showed that the Korean EDI-2 had adequate internal consistency (0.77-0.93) and discriminated well between patients with eating disorders and healthy controls on all subscales. Significant differences in EDI-2 subscale scores between the eating disorder groups and the healthy control group were observed; however, there was no discernible difference among the eating disorder subgroups. When compared with a North American standardization sample, the Korean control group showed significantly higher scores for drive for thinness and asceticism. When patient groups were compared, the Korean group showed significantly lower scores for perfectionism.
Conclusion
As expected, the results accurately reflected psychometric properties of the Korean version of EDI-2 for eating disorder patients in Korea. These findings also suggest that common characteristics for the eating disorder exist as a whole rather than with significant difference between each subgroup. In addition, significant differences between the Korean and the North American groups for both patients and controls also demonstrated specific cultural differences.
This study aimed to evaluate comorbidity for MD in a large ED sample and both personality and anger as clinical characteristics of patients with ED and MD. We assessed 838 ED patients with psychiatric evaluations and psychometric questionnaires: Temperament and Character Inventory, Eating Disorder Inventory-2, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. 19.5% of ED patients were found to suffer from comorbid MD and 48.7% reported clinically significant depressive symptomatology: patients with Anorexia Binge-Purging and Bulimia Nervosa were more likely to be diagnosed with MD. Irritable mood was found in the 73% of patients with MD. High Harm Avoidance (HA) and low Self-Directedness (SD) predicted MD independently of severity of the ED symptomatology, several clinical variables, and ED diagnosis. Assessing both personality and depressive symptoms could be useful to provide effective treatments. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the pathogenetic role of HA and SD for ED and MD.
The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is used worldwide in research and clinical work. The 3(rd) version (EDI-3) has been used in recent research, yet without any independent testing of its psychometric properties. The aim of the present study was twofold: 1) to establish national norms and to compare them with the US and international norms, and 2) to examine the factor structure, the internal consistency, the sensitivity and the specificity of subscale scores. Participants were Danish adult female patients (N = 561) from a specialist treatment centre and a control group (N = 878) was women selected from the Danish Civil Registration system. Small but significant differences were found between Danish and international, as well as US norms. Overall, the factor structure was confirmed, the internal consistency of the subscales was satisfactory, the discriminative validity was good, and sensitivity and specificity were excellent. The implications from these results are discussed.
The aim of this study was to examine longitudinally the role of characteristics measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory-Child version (EDI-C) to find early predictors that might constitute risk and protective factors in the development of disordered eating.
Participants were divided into three groups based on eating attitudes at T2: disordered eating (n = 49), intermediate eating concern (n = 260), and healthy eating attitudes (n = 120). EDI-C from T1 (four to five years earlier) was then analyzed to find predictors of group classification at T2.
Drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction emerged as risk factors at T1, while drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and interoceptive awareness emerged as protective factors after controlling for initial eating concerns and body mass index.
Eating disorders should not be seen as a result of a premorbid personality type. Rather we should take a more social-psychological perspective to explain how individual and sociocultural factors work together in the development of these conditions.
Twin studies have suggested that additive genetic factors significantly contribute to liability to bulimia nervosa (BN). However, the diagnostic criteria for BN remain controversial. In this study, an item-factor model was used to examine the BN diagnostic criteria and the genetic and environmental contributions to BN in a population-based twin sample. The validity of the equal environment assumption (EEA) for BN was also tested.
Participants were 1024 female twins (MZ n=614, DZ n=410) from the population-based Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry. BN was assessed using symptom-level (self-report) items consistent with DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. Items assessing BN were included in an item-factor model. The EEA was measured by items assessing similarity of childhood and adolescent environment, which have demonstrated construct validity. Scores on the EEA factor were used to specify the degree to which twins shared environmental experiences in this model.
The EEA was not violated for BN. Modeling results indicated that the majority of the variance in BN was due to additive genetic factors. There was substantial variability in additive genetic and environmental contributions to specific BN symptoms. Most notably, vomiting was very strongly influenced by additive genetic factors, while other symptoms were much less heritable, including the influence of weight on self-evaluation. These results highlight the importance of assessing eating disorders at the symptom level.
Refinement of eating disorder phenotypes could ultimately lead to improvements in treatment and targeted prevention, by clarifying sources of variation for specific components of symptomatology.
Twin data permit decomposition of comorbidity into genetically and environmentally derived correlations. No previous twin study includes all major forms of anxiety disorder.
To estimate the degree to which genetic and environmental risk factors are shared rather than unique to dimensionally scored panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Data obtained from 2801 young-adult Norwegian twins by means of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview were analysed with the Mx program.
A multivariate common factor model fitted best. The latent liability to all anxiety disorders was substantially more heritable (54%) than the individual disorders (23% to 40%). Most of the genetic effect was common to the disorders. Genes contributed just over 50% to the covariance between liabilities.
The five anxiety disorders all share genetic and environmental risk factors. This has implications for the revision of the anxiety disorder section in DSM-V.
This article attempted to demonstrate that the perfectionism construct is multidimensional, comprising both personal and social components, and that these components contribute to severe levels of psychopathology. We describe three dimensions of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Four studies confirm the multidimensionality of the construct and show that these dimensions can be assessed in a reliable and valid manner. Finally, a study with 77 psychiatric patients shows that self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism relate differentially to indices of personality disorders and other psychological maladjustment. A multidimensional approach to the study of perfectionism is warranted, particularly in terms of the association between perfectionism and maladjustment.
To explore the role of perfectionism across anxiety disorders, 175 patients with either panic disorder (PD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), social phobia, or specific phobia, as well as 49 nonclinical volunteers, completed two measures [Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R., (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468; Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L., (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.] that assess a total of nine different dimensions of perfectionism. Relative to the other groups, social phobia was associated with greater concern about mistakes (CM), doubts about actions (DA), and parental criticism (PC) on one measure and more socially prescribed perfectionism (SP) on the other measure. OCD was associated with elevated DA scores relative to the other groups. PD was associated with moderate elevations on the CM and DA subscales. The remaining dimensions of perfectionism failed to differentiate among groups. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Twin studies have been a valuable source of information about the genetic basis of complex traits. To maximize the potential of twin studies, large, worldwide registers of data on twins and their relatives have been established. Here, we provide an overview of the current resources for twin research. These can be used to obtain insights into the genetic epidemiology of complex traits and diseases, to study the interaction of genotype with sex, age and lifestyle factors, and to study the causes of co-morbidity between traits and diseases. Because of their design, these registers offer unique opportunities for selected sampling for quantitative trait loci linkage and association studies.
Several theorists have hypothesized that stress situations may trigger abnormal eating and even eating disorders in individuals with a perfectionistic personality. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a stress situation would reveal an association between perfectionism and measures of eating disorders among female high school students.
A sample of 42 female high school students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory three times: on an average school day, on the day of an examination, and on the day they received the evaluation of the examination. Linear regression analysis was calculated to verify whether the dimensions of perfectionism were associated with the measures of eating disorders.
Body Dissatisfaction was associated with perfectionism on all the three occasions, whereas Drive for Thinness was associated with perfectionism only on the day the students received the results of the examination.
The results suggest that among nonclinical female individuals, stress may make significant a previously absent association between perfectionism and an actual desire or plan to lose weight. Such a finding suggests that stress may stimulate behaviors related to eating disorders in individuals with a perfectionistic personality.
Questionnaire-based zygosity assessment in twins has generally been found to be valid. In this report we evaluate sex- and age-differences in the validity of such questionnaire-based classification when using the four questions that have been the basis of zygosity assessment in The Danish Twin Registry for half a century. Three hundred and forty-two male and 531 female twin pairs were zygosity diagnosed using genetic markers and the results compared with the original questionnaire based classification. We found significant differences in the accuracy of questionnaire based zygosity diagnosis when stratifying the data for sex as well as age: males and monozygotic having the highest misclassification. However, even in the group with the highest misclassification rate the frequency was less than 8%. The overall misclassification rate was only 4%, with a clear tendency towards a higher proportion of misclassified monozygotic than dizygotic twins. The results demonstrate that questionnaire based zygosity diagnosis can still be regarded as a valid and valuable classification method for most purposes.
Perfectionism may be a premorbid risk factor for eating disorders. Evidence of familial transmission suggests features of perfectionism may be genetically determined. This study examines the structure of perfectionism using classical twin design models.
Independent (IP) and common (CP) pathway models are used to investigate the extent to which genetic and environmental factors can help to identify and differentiate three behavioral domains of perfectionism as measured by a shortened version of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) [Frost et al. (1990). Cognit. Ther. Res. 14: 449-468]. Three of the original subscales were included: Personal standards (PS), Doubts about actions (DA), Concern over mistakes (CM). We studied a sample of 1022 paired and unpaired female twins from the Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry.
MZ correlations were consistently higher than DZ twin correlations for all three composite subscales. The multivariate independent pathway model provided a better fit to the twin correlations then did the more parsimonious common pathway model suggesting the pattern of familial resemblance for the three subscales is not well characterized by a unidimensional perfectionism factor. CM phenotypic variance was completely accounted for by common heritability influences in both the IP and CP models. Based on the IP model results, there was evidence that PS and CM but not DA shared some common genetic effects, with DA and CM sharing some common environmental factors.
These multivariate twin modeling results support conceptualizations of perfectionism as a multidimensional construct. The biometric structural results for the three subscales examined here suggest CM is the core feature of Perfectionism with DA and PS serving as indicators of CM. Although not the best fitting model, the common pathway model estimated this behavioral domain to be isomorphic with the construct of perfectionism. The better fitting independent pathway model provided evidence of non-trivial differences in the pattern of heritability for CM, DA, and PS.
Model selection is a topic of special relevance in molecular phylogenetics that affects many, if not all, stages of phylogenetic
inference. Here we discuss some fundamental concepts and techniques of model selection in the context of phylogenetics. We
start by reviewing different aspects of the selection of substitution models in phylogenetics from a theoretical, philosophical
and practical point of view, and summarize this comparison in table format. We argue that the most commonly implemented model
selection approach, the hierarchical likelihood ratio test, is not the optimal strategy for model selection in phylogenetics,
and that approaches like the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian methods offer important advantages. In particular,
the latter two methods are able to simultaneously compare multiple nested or nonnested models, assess model selection uncertainty,
and allow for the estimation of phylogenies and model parameters using all available models (model-averaged inference or multimodel
inference). We also describe how the relative importance of the different parameters included in substitution models can be
depicted. To illustrate some of these points, we have applied AIC-based model averaging to 37 mitochondrial DNA sequences
from the subgenus Ohomopterus (genus Carabus) ground beetles described by Sota and Vogler (2001).
The relationship between perfectionism and eating disorders is well established and is of theoretical interest. This study used an experimental design to test the hypothesis that manipulating personal standards, a central feature of perfectionism, would influence eating attitudes and behaviour. Forty-one healthy women were randomly assigned either to a high personal standards condition (n = 18) or to a low personal standards condition for 24 h (n = 23). Measures of personal standards, perfectionism, and eating attitudes and behaviour were taken before and after the experimental manipulation. The manipulation was successful. After the manipulation, participants in the high personal standards condition ate fewer high calorie foods, made more attempts to restrict the overall amount of food eaten, and had significantly more regret after eating than those in the low personal standards condition. Other variables remained unchanged. It is concluded that experimental analyses can be of value in elucidating causal connections between perfectionism and eating attitudes and behaviour.
The equal environments assumption, which holds that trait-relevant environments are equally correlated among monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, is essential to twin designs. Violations of this assumption could lead to biased parameter estimates in twin models. A variety of methods and measures have been used to test this assumption. No studies to date have evaluated the measurement invariance of such items or examined the distribution of the underlying equal environments trait. The current study was an investigation of the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of twins' equal environments. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that items loaded onto 'child' and 'teen' equal environments factors. Factor loadings and factor variances and their covariance were invariant for MZ and DZ twins; however, DZ twins had significantly lower factor means than MZ twins. Further, these items demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability. Lastly, the child and teen factors may be bimodally distributed, particularly for MZ twin pairs. Measurement invariance issues, as well as distributions of equal environments traits, should be considered when evaluating the equal environments assumption, in order to produce accurate parameter estimates in twin models.
Objective
Twin methodology has been used to delineate etiological factors in many medical disorders and behavioral traits including eating disorders. Although twin studies are powerful tools, their methodology can be arcane and their implications easily misinterpreted.
Method
The goals of this study are to (a) review the theoretical rationale for twin studies; (b) provide a framework for their interpretation and evaluation; (c) review extant twin studies on eating disorders; and (d) explore the implications for understanding etiological issues in eating disorders.
Discussion
On the basis of this review, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions regarding the precise contribution of genetic and environmental factors to anorexia nervosa. Twin studies confirm that bulimia nervosa is familial and reveal significant contributions of additive genetic effects and of unique environmental factors in liability to bulimia nervosa. The magnitude of the contribution of shared environment is less clear, but in the studies with the greatest statistical power, it appears to be less prominent than additive genetic factors. © 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 27: 1–20, 2000.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the existence and the importance of the distinction between self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism in the Eating Disorder Inventory Perfectionism subscale (EDI-P).
Method:
Trait perfectionism, measured by the EDI-P, and eating disorder symptoms, measured by the 26-item Eating Attitudes Test, were examined in 220 university students (110 women and 110 men) belonging to a campus-based fitness facility.
Results:
Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that, for both genders, the EDI-P is best represented by a multidimensional factor structure with three self-oriented perfectionism items (EDI-SOP) and three socially prescribed perfectionism items (EDI-SPP). Structural equation modeling demonstrated that, for both genders, EDI-SOP and EDI-SPP are related independently to eating disorder symptoms. Moderational analysis indicated that, for women, the impact of EDI-SOP on eating disorder symptoms is dependent on the level of EDI-SPP.
Discussion:
It is suggested that future research should acknowledge the empirical and theoretical implications of having EDI-SOP and EDI-SPP in the EDI-P. It is cautioned that EDI-SOP and EDI-SPP are a partial representation of an already published multidimensional model of trait perfectionism.
The purpose of the present study was to clarify genetic and environmental origins of psychological traits of eating disorders using a Japanese female twin sample. Participants were 162 pairs of female twins consisting of 116 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) twins and 46 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins in their adolescence. Psychological traits of eating disorders were assessed with five subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). As a result of using univariate twin analyses, among five subscales of EDI (maturity fears, ineffectiveness, interpersonal distrust, interoceptive awareness, and perfectionism), perfectionism showed significant additive genetic contributions and individual specific environmental effects. On the other hand, maturity fears, ineffectiveness, interoceptive awareness, and interpersonal distrust indicated significant shared environment contributions and individual specific environment effects. The results suggest the importance of both genetic and shared environmental influences on psychological traits of eating disorders in the present study.
Preface. List of Figures. List of Tables. 1. The Scope of Genetic Analyses. 2. Data Summary. 3. Biometrical Genetics. 4. Matrix Algebra. 5. Path Analysis and Structural Equations. 6. LISREL Models and Methods. 7. Model Fitting Functions and Optimization. 8. Univariate Analysis. 9. Power and Sample Size. 10. Social Interaction. 11. Sex Limitation and GE Interaction. 12. Multivariate Analysis. 13. Direction of Causation. 14. Repeated Measures. 15. Longitudinal Mean Trends. 16. Observer Ratings. 17. Assortment and Cultural Transmission. 18. Future Directions. Appendices: A. List of Participants. B. The Greek Alphabet. C. LISREL Scripts for Univariate Models. D. LISREL Script for Power Calculation. E. LISREL Scripts for Multivariate Models. F. LISREL Script for Sibling Interaction Model. G. LISREL Scripts for Sex and GE Interaction. H. LISREL Script for Rater Bias Model. I. LISREL Scripts for Direction of Causation. J. LISREL Script and Data for Simplex Model. K. LISREL Scripts for Assortment Models. Bibliography. Index.
The development and validation of a new measure, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is described. The EDI is a 64 item, self-report, multiscale measure designed for the assessment of psychological and behavioral traits common in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia. The EDI consists of eight subscales measuring: Drive for Thinness, Bilimia, Body Dissatisfaction, Ineffectiveness, Perfectionism, Interpersonal Distrust, Interoceptive Awareness and Maturity Fears. Reliability (internal consistency) is established for all subscales and several indices of validity are presented. First, AN patients (N=113) are differentiated from femal comparison (FC) subjects (N=577) using a cross-validation procedure. Secondly, patient self-report subscale scores agree with clinician ratings of subscale traits. Thirdly, clinically recovered AN patients score similarly to FCs on all subscales. Finally, convergent and discriminant validity are established for subscales. The EDI was also administered to groups of normal weight bulimic women, obese, and normal weight but formerly obese women, as well as a male comparison group. Group differences are reported and the potential utility of the EDI is discussed.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the associations between peer teasing and body dissatisfaction (BD), emotional symptoms, drive for thinness (DT), and abnormal eating behaviors, as well as to analyze the mediating role of gender and body mass index (BMI) in such disorders. We screened 57,997 school children between 13 and 16 years of age. Scores in weight-related teasing and competency-related teasing were higher among girls, as well as overweight or obese individuals. Weight-teasing correlated more strongly with abnormal eating attitudes and behaviors, whereas competency-teasing correlated with emotional symptoms. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that weight-teasing is significantly and independently associated with BD, especially in boys. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant association between weight-teasing and abnormal eating in girls, although its predictive value was very low (Exp(B) = 1.009). Mediation analysis and Path analysis showed the mediating role of DT in this association. Interventions on teasing do not seem to be a priority in eating disorder prevention programs.
The authors investigated the validity of the representativeness assumption in twin studies of eating pathology by examining whether twins are representative of the general population for eating disorder behavior. Eating disorder behaviors were quantified by a 21-item risk measure in two school-based female adolescent samples:
Although anorexia nervosa typically begins during adolescence with proneness to the disorder beginning even earlier, reliability and normative studies of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) have relied primarily on college-aged students. This problem was addressed by examining subscale performance of a normative sample of 619 boys and girls from 11 to 18 years of age who attended public school in Ontario, Canada. Analyses of the internal consistency of the EDI subscales Bulimia and Maturity Fears failed to demonstrate adequate reliability for either boys or girls. Perfectionism and Interpersonal Distrust subscales were also unreliable for the boys. Analysis of variance procedures revealed that girls scored higher than boys on Drive for Thinness, Body Dissatisfaction, and Interoceptive awareness. Older (14–18 years) girls differed from younger (11–13 years) girls, scoring higher on Body Dissatisfaction and lower on Interpersonal Distrust. Older and younger boys did not differ from each other on any of the EDI subscales, nor did they differ from the 14–18-year-old norms presented by Rosen, Silberg, and Gross (1988). Older girls, on the other hand, scored higher than the Rosen et al. norms on Drive for Thinness and Interoceptive Awareness. EDI percentile scores are presented for girls 11–13 and 14–18 years of age.
Objective
Twin methodology has been used to delineate etiological factors in many medical disorders and behavioral traits including eating disorders. Although twin studies are powerful tools, their methodology can be arcane and their implications easily misinterpreted.Method
The goals of this study are to (a) review the theoretical rationale for twin studies; (b) provide a framework for their interpretation and evaluation; (c) review extant twin studies on eating disorders; and (d) explore the implications for understanding etiological issues in eating disorders.DiscussionOn the basis of this review, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions regarding the precise contribution of genetic and environmental factors to anorexia nervosa. Twin studies confirm that bulimia nervosa is familial and reveal significant contributions of additive genetic effects and of unique environmental factors in liability to bulimia nervosa. The magnitude of the contribution of shared environment is less clear, but in the studies with the greatest statistical power, it appears to be less prominent than additive genetic factors. © 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 27: 1–20, 2000.
This study investigated factors important in the establishment of same-gender student-faculty role-model relationships. Subjects were 33 females and 24 male graduate students enrolled in the same academic department who responded anonymously to scales assessing four characteristics of the role model (personal attributes, life-style and values, power and influence, and professional achievement), three parallel areas of perceived similarity between student and role model (personality, attitudes and values, and professional goals), and students' self-esteem and achievement orientation. As predicted, female students rated the role-model relationship as more important to their professional development than did male students and rated the model's personal attributes and the model's life-style and values as more important in selecting a role model. Consistent with recent theoretical views, female and male students rated both the professional skills and the personal characteristics of the faculty role model as important in establishing the role-model relationship. These findings are interpreted within a framework that considers the continuing effect of belief systems about women's and men's roles on the professional development of women.
Perfectionism is a major diagnostic criterion for one DSM-III diagnosis, and it has been hypothesized to play a major role in a wide variety of psychopathologies. Yet there is no precise definition of, and there is a paucity of research on, this construct. Based on what has been theorized about perfectionism, a multidimensional measure was developed and several hypotheses regarding the nature of perfectionism were tested in four separate studies. The major dimension of this measure was excessive concern over making mistakes. Five other dimensions were identified, including high personal standards, the perception of high parental expectations, the perception of high parental criticism, the doubting of the quality of one's actions, and a preference for order and organization. Perfectionism and certain of its subscales were correlated with a wide variety of psychopathological symptoms. There was also an association between perfectionism and procrastination. Several subscales of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), personal standards and organization, were associated with positive achievement striving and work habits. The MPS was highly correlated with one of the existing measures of perfectionism. Two other existing measures were only moderately correlated with the MPS and with each other. Future studies of perfectionism should take into account the multidimensional nature of the construct.
Clinical experience suggests that perfectionism can impede the successful treatment of psychological disorders. This review examines the concept of perfectionism, critically evaluates its assessment, reviews the association between existing measures of perfectionism and psychopathology, and considers the impact of perfectionism on treatment. It is concluded that existing measures do not reflect the original construct of perfectionism and that, consequently, new measures are needed. The evidence reviewed indicates that high personal standards are specifically elevated in patients with eating disorders and beliefs about others' high standards for the self are associated with a broad range of psychopathology. The importance of examining mean scores across studies (as well as associations between variables within studies) is emphasized. There has been no systematic evaluation of the treatment of perfectionism despite existing cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols.
Theory and research suggest that maladaptive perfectionism, specifically, concerns about mistakes (CM) and doubts about actions (DA), may be important etiologic and maintenance mechanisms for anxiety and its disorders. However, no studies speaking directly to the origins of the relationship, i.e. what etiologic factors underlie the phenotypic association between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism, exist. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring genetic and environmental relationships between anxiety symptoms and maladaptive perfectionism.
The sample consisted of 292 young adult same-sex female twins from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Anxiety symptoms were assessed by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait version and an anxiety problems scale derived from the Young Adult Self Report. Maladaptive perfectionism was measured using the CM and DA subscales of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale.
Anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism were both moderately heritable, with estimates ranging from. 45 to .66. Moreover, multivariate analyses revealed that genetic factors were primarily responsible for associations between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism (r(g) =.59-.88).
This is the first study to demonstrate the role of genetic factors in the relationship between anxiety and maladaptive perfectionism. Future studies are needed to uncover the specific biologic and genetic factors that contribute to this relationship and to evaluate whether maladaptive perfectionism represents an intermediate trait or risk factor for anxiety.
We produced a Japanese version of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and investigated its reliability and validity.
EDI-2 Japanese version was administered to 246 patients with eating disorders and 100 control subjects. The internal consistency as well as discriminant validity were examined.
The alpha reliability coefficients were high (0.71 to 0.92) in all subscales except the asceticism subscale which was rated 0.61. The anorexia nervosa binge-purging type and bulimia nervosa showed significantly higher scores in all the EDI-2 subscales when compared to the controls, and also significantly higher scores in seven EDI-2 subscales compared to anorexia nervosa restricting type (AN-R). AN-R showed significantly lower scores in the body dissatisfaction subscale. Lower scores in Japanese than Western patients for drive for thinness as well as marked difference in perfectionism and maturity fears suggested cross-cultural issues between Japan and western countries.
Japanese version of EDI-2 is a measure instrument that can be expected to have a satisfactory level of internal consistency except the asceticism subscale as well as high validity as a tool for the evaluation of the psychopathology of eating disorder.
The present study examined whether the cross-sectional association between body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem varies across gender, age, body weight status, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). We also examined the association longitudinally.
A school-based survey of eating, weight, and related attitudes was conducted with a diverse sample of adolescents aged 11-18 years (N = 4,746). Height and weight were measured in the schools at Time 1. Participants were resurveyed through mails 5 years later (Time, 2; N = 2,516).
The relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem was strong and significant in both boys and girls (all p values < .0001), and did not differ significantly between genders (p = .16), or between the middle school and high school cohorts in either boys (p = .79) or girls (p = .80). Among girls, the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem was strong, but did vary across weight status, race/ethnicity, and SES (all p values = .0001-.03). The relationship was nonsignificant in underweight girls (p = .36), and weaker but still significant among black, Asian, and low SES group girls (all p values < .0001) in comparison to white and high SES group girls. Among boys, the association did not differ significantly across demographic groups (all p values = .18-.79). In longitudinal analyses, the strength of the association did not change significantly as adolescents grew older.
Findings indicate that body dissatisfaction and self-esteem are strongly related among nearly all groups of adolescents. This suggests the importance of addressing body image concerns with adolescents of all backgrounds and ages.
The information criterion AIC was introduced to extend the method of maximum likelihood to the multimodel situation. It was obtained by relating the successful experience of the order determination of an autoregressive model to the determination of the number of factors in the maximum likelihood factor analysis. The use of the AIC criterion in the factor analysis is particularly interesting when it is viewed as the choice of a Bayesian model. This observation shows that the area of application of AIC can be much wider than the conventional i.i.d. type models on which the original derivation of the criterion was based. The observation of the Bayesian structure of the factor analysis model leads us to the handling of the problem of improper solution by introducing a natural prior distribution of factor loadings.
Model-fitting methods are now prominent in the analysis of human behavioural variation. Various ways of specifying models have been proposed. These are identical in their simplest form but differ in the emphasis given to more subtle sources of variation. The biometrical genetical approach allows flexibility in the specification of non-additive factors. Given additivity, the approach of path analysis may be used to specify several environmental models in the presence of assortative mating. In many cases the methods should yield identical conclusions. Several statistical methods have been proposed for parameter estimation and hypothesis testing. The most suitable rely on the method of maximum likelihood for the estimation of variance and covariance components. Any multifactorial model can be formulated in these terms. The choice of method will depend chiefly on the design of the experiment and the ease with which a data summary can be obtained without significant loss of information. Examples are given in which the causes of variation show different degrees of detectable complexity. A variety of experimental designs yield behavioural data which illustrate the contribution of additive and non-additive genetical effects, the mating system, sibling and cultural effects, the interaction of genetical effects with age and sex. The discrimination between alternative hypotheses is often difficult. The extension of the approach to the analysis of multiple measurements and discontinuous traits is considered.
Two issues that complicate behavioral genetic analyses are the interaction and correlation between genetic and environmental influences. In the present report, the effects of genotype-environment interaction and correlation on behavioral genetic studies (twin and adoption studies) are examined. The analysis suggests that genotype-environment interaction may bias twin study estimates of genetic and environmental influence but need not affect adoption studies. On the other hand, genotype-environment correlation may affect both twin and adoption study estimates of genetic and environmental influence, the direction of the effect depending on the sign of the correlation. New tests of genotype-environment interaction and correlation, using adoption data, are proposed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article describes perfectionism, or the holding of and striving for unrealistically high standards, and presents two studies undertaken to investigate the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the Perfectionism Scale (PS; Burns, 1980). College students in the first study completed the PS, several other measures of high standards, and measures of constructs that, conceptually, are differentially related to perfectionism. Correlational analyses indicated that the Perfectionism Scale has convergent and discriminant validity and seems to measure self-oriented perfectionism. The second study attempted to determine the predictive validity of the PS by testing a vulnerability model of subclinical depression outlined in Hewitt and Dyck (1986). PS scores were used to predict depressed mood changes in female college students following failure on important and unimportant tasks. As expected, the results indicated that perfectionism interacted with failure on important versus unimportant tasks to produce dysphoric mood. Evidence for the predictive validity of the PS was thus shown. Several directions for future research are discussed.
This paper reviews the characteristics of clinical perfectionism and proposes a new definition of the phenomenon. It is suggested that the defining feature of clinically significant perfectionism is the overdependence of self-evaluation on the determined pursuit (and achievement) of self-imposed personally demanding standards of performance in at least one salient domain, despite the occurrence of adverse consequences. It is suggested that such clinical perfectionism is maintained by the biased evaluation of the pursuit and achievement of personally demanding standards. Specifically, it is suggested that people with perfectionism react to failure to meet their standards with self-criticism. If they do meet their standards, the standards are re-evaluated as being insufficiently demanding. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are considered to have a particular relationship to perfectionism, with both disorders often being direct expressions of perfectionism. Under these circumstances self-evaluation is dependent on the pursuit and attainment of personally demanding standards in the domain of control over eating, shape and weight. The implications of this analysis for research and practice are considered.
For the purpose of this discussion, perfectionism was defined as “demanding of oneself or others a higher quality of performance than is required by the situation.” The judgment as to what constitutes a higher quality of performance than is required was made by the patient and would be in concordance with the opinion of most psychiatrists. The clinical picture of the perfectionist was presented first in general terms and then followed by a specific example. Perfectionism most commonly develops in an insecure child who needs approval, acceptance and affection from parents who are difficult to please. The child assumes that if he performs perfectly, he will receive the succorance he seeks. Later perfectionism represents an effort, also, to combat self-belittlement. A clinical note illustrated the general thesis that was developed. Finally, perfectionism was differentiated from compulsiveness: the former being a means of obtaining interpersonal supplies and of seeking a better self-image, and the latter being a mechanism for fending off unacceptable feelings and impulses. Although admixtures do occur, it is essential in clinical practice to deal with each trait separately.
The purpose of the present study was to clarify genetic and environmental origins of psychological traits of eating disorders using a Japanese female twin sample. Participants were 162 pairs of female twins consisting of 116 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) twins and 46 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins in their adolescence. Psychological traits of eating disorders were assessed with five subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). As a result of using univariate twin analyses, among five subscales of EDI (maturity fears, ineffectiveness, interpersonal distrust, interoceptive awareness, and perfectionism), perfectionism showed significant additive genetic contributions and individual specific environmental effects. On the other hand, maturity fears, ineffectiveness, interoceptive awareness, and interpersonal distrust indicated significant shared environment contributions and individual specific environment effects. The results suggest the importance of both genetic and shared environmental influences on psychological traits of eating disorders in the present study.
There were four purposes of the current study, including the investigation of the: (i) adequacy of a multidimensional measure of body image; (ii) genetic and environmental epidemiology of this measure; (iii) shared variance between genetic and environmental risk factors for body mass index (BMI) and body image; and (iv) Equal Environment Assumption (EEA) as it related to body attitudes.
Six types of body attitudes, as measured by the Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ) and reported by 894 complete female-female twin pairs (mean age 32.35 years, S.D. = 41.8) from the Australian Twin Registry, were analysed.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the BAQ supported the adequacy of the measure. Additive genetic and unique environmental influences best accounted for the variance of all six of the BAQ subscales. The relationship between BMI and body attitudes was primarily due to shared genes rather than environment but the majority of genetic and environmental effects on body attitudes were independent of BMI, with the exception of the Feeling Fat subscale, which shared 53% of its genetic risk factors with BMI. One violation of the EEA was suggested, namely similarity of childhood treatment influenced similarity on Lower Body Fatness subscale.
Findings support the notion that: (i) body image is a multidimensional concept; (ii) it is relatively independent of BMI; and (iii) both genetic and non-shared environment are influential determinants of body attitudes.
Information theory provides an attractive basis for statistical inference and model selection. However, little is known about the relative performance of different information-theoretic criteria in covariance structure modeling, especially in behavioral genetic contexts. To explore these issues, information-theoretic fit criteria were compared with regard to their ability to discriminate between multivariate behavioral genetic models under various model, distribution, and sample size conditions. Results indicate that performance depends on sample size, model complexity, and distributional specification. The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) is more robust to distributional misspecification than Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) under certain conditions, and outperforms AIC in larger samples and when comparing more complex models. An approximation to the Minimum Description Length (MDL; Rissanen, J. (1996). IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 42:40-47, Rissanen, J. (2001). IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 47:1712-1717) criterion, involving the empirical Fisher information matrix, exhibits variable patterns of performance due to the complexity of estimating Fisher information matrices. Results indicate that a relatively new information-theoretic criterion, Draper's Information Criterion (DIC; Draper, 1995), which shares features of the Bayesian and MDL criteria, performs similarly to or better than BIC. Results emphasize the importance of further research into theory and computation of information-theoretic criteria.
The basis of most twin studies is the ascertainment of twins, often through twin registries, and determination of zygosity. The current rate of twin births in many industrialized countries implies that in the near future around 3% or more of individuals will be a twin. Hence, there are and will be a lot of twins around and many of those will not participate in twin studies. However, if large population-based samples are available that include appropriate identifiers, then twins can be detected and twin studies performed, even in the absence of zygosity information. We quantified the number of twin pairs that could be detected from a longitudinal survey in the Netherlands, which aims to answer questions about educational strategies and performance in primary education in the Netherlands. We detected 2865 twin pairs if we used a coded name identifier, date of birth, school, grade and year of survey, which is 2.01% of 284,945 pupils in five cohorts. Relaxing our selection criteria increased the number of apparent twin pairs identified, most of which are false positives due to chance matching of identification criteria. We show that the intraclass correlation on measured phenotypes can be used as a quality control measure for twin identification, and quantify the proportion of false negatives (true twin pairs not identified) due to missing data and data coding errors. We compared our estimated rate of twins in the sample to census data and estimate that with our most stringent selection criteria we detect more than 80% of all twin pairs in the sample. We conclude that the identification of twin pairs from large population-based samples is feasible, rapid and accurate if the appropriate identifiers are available, and that twin pairs from such sources are a valuable resource for studies to answer scientific question about twins versus nontwins and about genetic and environmental factors of twin resemblance.
Theory and evidence strongly suggest that perfectionism may be a risk factor for eating disorders. The purpose of the current study was to investigate a model that would explain the relationship between the cognitive diagnostic criterion for both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, namely undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, and dimensions of perfectionism. The model of particular interest was the common cause model, which hypothesizes that the phenotypes are caused by the same underlying genetic and environmental risk factors.
Female twins (n=1002) from the Australian Twin Registry (ATR), aged 28 to 39 years, were interviewed using the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE). In addition, questions relating to the Equal Environment Assumption (EEA) and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, namely concern over mistakes (CM), personal standards (PS) and doubts about actions (DA), were assessed.
There was no evidence of violation of the EEA for any of the four phenotypes. Univariate models showed all phenotypes to be influenced by both genetic and non-shared environmental action, where genetic estimates ranged from 25% to 39% of the variance. Multivariate analyses suggested the best explanation of covariation among the phenotypes was an independent pathways, rather than a common pathways, model.
Undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation shared about 10% of its sources of genetic and environmental variance with perfectionism, thus suggesting that a common cause model does not represent the best explanation of the relationship between perfectionism and this cognitive diagnostic criterion for eating disorders.
Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families
- M Neale
- L Cardon
Neale, M., Cardon, L., 1992. Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Patch, A.R., 1984. Reflections of perfection. Am. Psychol. 39 (4), 386-390.
MX: Statistical Modeling, 7th
- M C Neale
- S M Boker
- G Xie
- H H Maes
Neale, M.C., Boker, S.M., Xie, G., Maes, H.H., 2006. MX: Statistical Modeling, 7th. Ed,
VCU Box 900126, Richmond, VA 23298, Department of Psychiatry.