An examination of the domain specificity of perfectionism among intercollegiate student-athletes

There is currently disagreement among perfectionism theorists as to whether the personality trait of perfectionism should be conceptualized and measured as a global personality construct or as a domain-specific construct. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if perfectionism levels varied as a function of the situational context within which perfectionist tendencies were considered. A total of 133 male (M age = 21.59 years, SD = 2.32) and 108 female (M age = 21.44 years, SD = 2.68) intercollegiate student-athletes participated in the study. Respondents completed three self-report instruments designed to measure global perfectionist tendencies, and perfectionist tendencies in the achievement domains of sport and academe. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed that perfectionism levels varied significantly for both males and females as a function of the situational context within which perfectionist tendencies were examined. Moreover, male participants tended to have higher perfectionist tendencies than female participants in the sport domain. The results suggest that individual differences in perfectionism can be attributed to the situational context of the achievement domains that respondents are asked to consider when judging their perfectionist tendencies. A move towards the domain specific assessment of perfectionism is advocated.