Maternal goal factors in adaptive and maladaptive childhood perfectionism

In this project, 72 middle school students responded to a questionnaire tapping three aspects of perfectionism: self‐striving, socially‐prescribed perfectionism, and concern for mistakes. Their mothers completed a questionnaire assessing goal expression along three dimensions defined as direct expectations (e.g., ‘I set high standards for my child’), controlling expectations (e.g., ‘Only outstanding performance is good enough in our family’), and noncontingent encouragement (e.g., ‘Trying hard is more important than being the best’). Path modelling, using SmartPLS, revealed that direct expectations were associated positively with students' self‐striving, but negatively with socially‐prescribed perfectionism. Controlling expectations were associated with socially‐prescribed perfectionism. Hence, adaptive and maladaptive aspects of students' perfectionism appear to be associated with differential patterns of maternal goal expression.