REFLECTIONS ON PERFECTION AND THE PRESSURE TO BE PERFECT IN ATHLETES, DANCERS, AND EXERCISERS: A focus on perfectionistic reactivity in key situations and life contexts

The Psychology of Perfectionism in sport, Dance and exercise

Volumn , Issue , 2016, Pages 296-319

  Flett, Gordon L ^a   Hewitt, Paul L ^b  

^a YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85140571436     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.4324/9781315661100-21     Document Type: Chapter

References (74)

1. Anshel, M. H., and Mansouri, H. (2005). Influences of perfectionism on motor performance, affect, and causal attributions in response to critical information feedback. Journal of Sport Behavior, 28, 99-124.
2. Appleton, P. R., Hall, H. K., and Hill, A. P. (2011). Examining the influence of the parent-initiated and coach-created motivational climates upon athletes’ perfectionistic cognitions. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29, 661-671.
3. Bahrami, S., Yousefi, B., Kaviani, E., and Ariapooran, S. (2014). The prevalence of energetic drugs use and the role of perfectionism, sensation seeking, and physical self-concept in discriminating bodybuilders with positive and negative attitudes toward doping. International Journal of Sports Studies, 4, 174-180.
4. Berra, Y., and Kaplan, D. (2002). What Time Is It? You Mean Now? Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
5. Blouin, A. G., and Goldfield, G. S. (1995). Body image and steroid use in male bodybuilders. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18, 159-165.
6. Burns, D. D. (1980). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. New York, NY: New American Library.
7. Chen, C., Hewitt, P. L., and Flett, G. L. (2015). Preoccupied attachment, need to belong, shame, and interpersonal perfectionism: An investigation of the perfectionism social disconnection model. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 177-182.
8. Coen, S. P., and Ogles, B. M. (1993). Psychological characteristics of the obligatory runner:A critical examination of the anorexia analogue hypothesis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15, 338-354.
9. Dunkley, D. M., Zuroff, D. C., and Blankstein, K. R. (2003). Self-critical perfectionism and daily affect: Dispositional and situational influences on stress and coping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 234-252.
10. Dunn, J. G. H., Causgrove Dunn, J., Gamache, V., and Holt, N. L. (2014). A person-oriented examination of perfectionism and slump-related coping in female intercollegiate volleyball players. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45, 298-324.
11. Elison, J., and Partridge, J. A. (2009). Relationships between shame-coping, fear of failure, and perfectionism in college athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 35, 19-38.
12. Ellis, A. E. (2002). The role of irrational beliefs in perfectionism, In G. L. Flett and P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment (pp. 217-229). Washington, DC:American Psychological Association.
13. Eusanio, J., Thomson, P., and Jaque, S. V. (2014). Perfectionism, shame, and self-concept in dancers:A mediation analysis. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, 18, 106-114.
14. Fedewa, B. A., Burns, L. R., and Gomez, A. A. (2005). Positive and negative perfectionism and the shame/guilt distinction: Adaptive and maladaptive characteristics. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1609-1619.
15. Flett, G. L., Besser, A., and Hewitt, P. L. (2014). Perfectionism and interpersonal orientations in depression: An analysis of validation seeking and rejection sensitivity in a community sample of young adults. Psychiatry, 77, 66-87.
16. Flett, G. L., and Hewitt, P. L. (2005). The perils of perfectionism in sports and exercise. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 14-18.
17. Flett, G. L., and Hewitt, P. L. (2014) “The perils of perfectionism in sports” revisited: Toward a broader understanding of the pressure to be perfect and its impact on athletes and dancers. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45, 395-407.
18. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Blankstein, K. R., and Gray, L. (1998). Psychological distress and the frequency of perfectionism thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1363-1381.
19. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Blankstein, K. R., and Koledin, S. (1991). Dimensions of perfectionism and irrational thinking. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 9, 185-201.
20. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Blankstein, K. R., and Mosher, S. W. (1991). Perfectionism, self-actualization, and personal adjustment. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 147-160.
21. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., and Cheng, W. M. W. (2008). Perfectionism, distress, and irrational beliefs in high school students: Analyses with an abbreviated Survey of Personal Beliefs for adolescents. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 26, 194-205.
22. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Nepon, T., and Fitzgerald, K. (2015). Perfectionism, components of stress reactivity, and depression. Manuscript submitted for publication.
23. Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., and Sherry, S. S. (in press). Deep, dark, and dysfunctional: The destructiveness of interpersonal perfectionism. In V. Zeigler-Hill and D. K. Marcus (Eds.), The Dark Side of Personality. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
24. Flett, G. L., Nepon, T., and Hewitt, P. L. (2016). Perfectionism, worry, and rumination in health and mental health: A review and a conceptual framework for a cognitive theory of perfectionism. In F. M. Sirois and D. M. Molnar (Eds.), Perfectionism, Health, and Well-Being (pp. 121-156). London, England: Springer International Publishing Switzerland.
25. Forsythe, C. J., and Compas, B. E. (1987). Interaction of cognitive appraisals of stressful events and coping: Testing the goodness of fit hypothesis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, 473-485.
26. Frost, R. O., and Henderson, K. J. (1991). Perfectionism and reactions to athletic competition. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 13, 323-335.
27. Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., and Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468.
28. Frost, R. O., Trepanier, K. L., Brown, E. J., and Heimberg, R. G. (1997). Self-monitoring of mistakes among subjects high and low in perfectionistic concern over mistakes. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 209-222.
29. Frost, R. O., Turcotte, T., Heimberg, R. G., and Mattia, J. I. (1995). Reactions to mistakes among subjects high and low in perfectionistic concern over mistakes. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 19, 195-205.
30. Gaudreau, P., and Antl, S. (2008). Athletes’ broad dimensions of dispositional perfectionism:Examining changes in life satisfaction and the mediating role of sport-related motivation and coping. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 30, 356-382.
31. Goldfield, G. S., and Woodside, D. B. (2009). Body image, disordered eating, and anabolic steroids in male bodybuilders: Current versus former users. The Physican and Sportsmedicine, 37, 111-114.
32. Gotwals, J. K., Stoeber, J., Dunn, J. G. H., and Stoll, O. (2012). Are perfectionistic strivings in sports adaptive? A systematic review of confirmatory, contradictory, and mixed evidence. Canadian Psychology, 53, 263-279.
33. Hall, H. K., Kerr, A. W., Kozub, S. A., and Finnie, S. B. (2007). Motivational antecedents of obligatory exercise: The influence of achievement goals and multidimensional perfectionism. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8, 297-316.
34. Hall, H. K., Kerr, A. W., and Matthews, J. (1998). Precompetitive anxiety in sport: The contribution of achievement goals and perfectionism. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 20, 194-217.
35. Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Psychology, 15, 27-33.
36. Hewitt, P. L., and Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.
37. Hewitt, P. L., and Flett, G. L. (1993). Dimensions of perfectionism, daily stress, and depression:A test of the specific vulnerability hypothesis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 58-65.
38. Hewitt, P. L. and Flett, G. L. (2002). Perfectionism and stress in psychopathology. In G. L. Flett and P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment (pp. 255-284). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
39. Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., Sherry, S. B., M. Habke, M. Parkin, M. et al. (2003). The interpersonal expression of perfection: Perfectionistic self-presentation and psychological distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1303-1325.
40. Hewitt, P. L., and Genest, M. (1990). The ideal self: Schematic processing of perfectionistic content in dysphoric university students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 802-808.
41. Hewitt, P. L., Habke, A. M., Lee-Baggley, D. L., Sherry, S. B., and Flett, G. L. (2008). The impact of perfectionistic self-presentation on the cognitive, affective, and physiological experience of a clinical interview. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 71, 93-122.
42. Hewitt, P. L., Mittelstaedt, W., and Wollert, R. (1989). Validation of a measure of perfectionism. Journal of Personality Assessment, 53, 133-144.
43. Hildebrandt, T., Harty, S., and Langenbucher, J. W. (2012). Fitness supplements as a gateway substance for anabolic-androgenic steroid use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26, 955-962.
44. Hill, A. P., and Appleton, P.R. (2011). The predictive ability of the frequency of perfectionistic cognitions, self-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism in relation to symptoms of burnout in youth rugby players. Journal of Sports Science, 29, 695-703.
45. Hill, A. P., and Curran, T. (in press). Multidimensional perfectionism and burnout: A metaanalysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review.
46. Hill, A. P., Hall, H. K., and Appleton, P. R. (2010). A comparative examination of the correlates of self-oriented perfectionism and conscientious achievement striving in male cricket academy players. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11, 162-168.
47. Hill, A. P., Hall, H. K., and Appleton, P. R. (2010). Perfectionism and athlete burnout in junior elite athletes: The mediating role of coping tendencies. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 23, 415-430.
48. Hill, A. P., Hall, H. K., Appleton, P. R., and Murray, J. J. (2010). Perfectionism and burnout in canoe polo and kayak slalom athletes: The mediating influence of validation and growth seeking. Sports Psychologist, 24, 16-34.
49. Hill, A. P., Hall, H. K., Duda, J. L., and Appleton, P. R. (2011). The cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses of self-oriented perfectionists following successful failure on a muscular endurance task. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 9, 189-207.
50. Hill, A. P., Robson, S. J., and Stamp, G. M. (2015). The predictive ability of perfectionistic traits and self-presentational styles in relation to exercise dependence. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 176-183.
51. Hill. R. W., Huelsman, T. J., Furr, R. M., Kibler, J., Vicente, B. B., and Kennedy, C. (2004). A new measure of perfectionism: The Perfectionism Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 82, 80-91.
52. Ismaili, S. S., Yousefi, B., and Sobhani, Y. (2013). The role of some psychological factors in the doping attitudes of elite wrestlers. International Journal of Wrestling Science, 3, 35-40.
53. Jackson, P., and Delehanty, H. (2013). Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.
54. Kain, K., Godfrey, S., and Doob, P. R. (1994), Movement Never Lies: An Autobiography. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart.
55. Krane, V., Greenleaf, C. A., and Snow, J. (1997). Reaching for gold and the price of glory: A motivational case study of an elite gymnast. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19, 53-71.
56. Lazenby, R. (2014). Michael Jordan: The Life. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company.
57. Leitner, J. B., Hehman, E., Deegan, M. P., and Jones, J. M. (2014). Adaptive disengagement buffers self-esteem from negative social feedback. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1435-1450.
58. Mahoney, M. J., and Avener, M. (1977). Psychology of the elite athlete: An exploratory study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 135-141.
59. Marcus, D. K., and Ziegler-Hill, V. (2015). A big tent of dark personality traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(8), 434-446.
60. McGregor, H. A., and Elliot, A. J. (2005). The shame of failure: Examining the link between fear of failure and shame. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 218-231.
61. Miller, K. J., and Mesagno, C. (2014). Personality traits and exercise dependence: Exploring the role of narcissism and perfectionism. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 12, 368-381.
62. Moran, A., Guerin, S., Kirby, K., and MacIntyre, T. (2008). Development and validation of a doping attitudes and behaviour scale: Report to World Anti-Doping Agency and The Irish Sports Council. Retrieved from https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/social-science/thedevelopment-and-validation-of-a-doping-attitudes-and-behaviour-scale
63. Neeraj, K., Maman, P., and Sandhu, J. S. (2011). Why players engage in drug abuse substances:A survey study. The Doping Journal, 8, 1. Retrieved from http://dopingjournal.org/content/8/1/dopingj082010-01.html.
64. Pacht, A. R. (1984). Reflections on perfection. American Psychologist, 39, 386-390.
65. Post, R. D. (1982). Dependency conflicts in high achieving women: Toward an integration. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 19, 82-87.
66. Sagar, S. S., and Stoeber, J. (2009). Perfectionism, fear of failure, and affective responses to success and failure: The central role of fear of experiencing shame and embarrassment. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 31, 602-627.
67. Sampson, C. (1997). Hogan. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
68. Schlotz, W., Yim, I. S., Zoccola, P. M., Jansen, L., and Schulz, P. (2011). The Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale: Measurement invariance, stability, and validity in three countries. Psychological Assessment, 23, 80-94.
69. Stoeber, J., Otto, K., Pescheck, E., Becker, C., and Stoll, O. (2007). Perfectionism and competitive anxiety in athletes: Differentiating striving for perfection and negative reactions to imperfection. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 959-969.
70. Stoeber, J., Stoll, O., Salmi, O., and Tikkaja, J. (2009). Perfectionism and achievement goals in young Finnish ice-hockey players aspiring to make the Under-16 national team. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27, 85-94.
71. Tangney, J. P. (2002). Perfectionism and the self-conscious emotions: Shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride. In G. L. Flett and P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment (pp. 199-215). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
72. Watson, D., and Clark, L. A. (1984). Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 465-490.
73. Wieczorek, J., Flett, G. L., and Hewitt, P. L. (2003). Dimensions of perfectionism, anxiety, and coping in successful versus unsuccessful golfers. Unpublished manuscript, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
74. Zucchetti, G., Candela, F., and Villosio, C. (2015). Psychological and social correlates of doping among Italian athletes. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26, 162-168.