Perfectionism and Self-handicapping in Adult Education

This study analyzes the relationship between perfectionism and self-handicapping at the level of university students. Maladaptative perfectionism deals with setting high standards, but view themselves as never seeming to meet their own high expectations (Pacht, 1984). Academic self-handicapping refers to the use of impediments to successful performance on academic tasks. Most researchers agree that the reason people self-handicap is to protect themselves from the negative implications of failure. There are no gender differences as regards the use of self-handicapping. The correlations among the variables revealed that, when the whole sample was considered, self-handicapping was positively related to perfectionism and negatively to academic achievement. This is in line with previous research (Hobden & Pliner, 1995; Sherry et al., 2001; Zuckerman, Kieffer, & Knee, 1998). The link between these two constructs is not unexpected since they both deal with people's concerns about standards, levels of competence and how people are perceived by others.