Perfectionistic strivings and the perils of partialling

Abstract

Two recent reviews of research examining the effects of perfectionism in athletes concluded that perfectionistic strivings is adaptive when perfectionistic concerns are controlled or partialled. This study aims to provide a caveat to the conclusions of these reviews by highlighting the perils of partialling and illustrating how it is possible for the conceptual meaning of perfectionistic strivings to change following partialling. In order to do so, 283 athletes (age M = 20.65, s = 3.68, range 18–43) completed measures of two commonly used sub-dimensions of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns (personal standards and concern over mistakes) along with a number of constructs from their nomological network. A comparison of the observed relationships before (raw scores) and after (residualised scores) partialling indicated a reasonably high degree of overall similarity. However, closer examination revealed 14 of 18 individual relationships changed in magnitude, direction or statistical significance and 4 of the changes were indicative of suppression (i.e. an increase in the relationship with the criterion variable). The results exemplify the impact of partialling on perfectionistic strivings and question the conceptual meaning of residualised perfectionistic strivings and its relevance when understanding the effects of perfectionism.

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