Robin Rosenblate’s research while affiliated with Smith College and other places

The major theme in theorizing about the development of perfectionism is that it is a product of perfectionistic and demanding parents. The two studies reported here represent the first attempt to test this assumption. In study 1, perfectionism was measured in both daughters and their parents. In study 2, perfectionism in both daughters and their parents, related parental characteristics, and levels of psychopathology among daughters were measured. The findings from both studies indicated that mothers' perfectionism, but not fathers', was associated with perfectionism among daughters. In addition, daughters' ratings of fathers' harshness, but not fathers' self-reported harshness, were associated with daughters' perfectionism. For mothers, daughters' ratings of mothers' harshness and mothers' self-reported harshness were associated with perfectionism among daughters. A combination of mothers' Overall Perfectionism and mothers' self-reported harshness accounted for 30% of the variance in daughters' Overall Perfectionism. Additional findings suggested that mothers' perfectionism was associated with greater symptoms of psychopathology among daughters, while fathers' perfectionism was associated with lower levels of symptomatology.

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.