Perfectionism and Peer Victimisation in Youth Sport

Peer victimisation is a global issue affecting approximately 10-30% of youths and is often prevalent and more socially accepted in sport settings. Research has found perfectionism is associated with peer victimisation in a range of samples. What remains unknown is whether perfectionism predicts the perpetration of peer victimisation or being the victim in youth sport. The current study aimed to address this issue by examining the relationships between self-oriented perfectionism (demanding perfection of the self) other-oriented perfectionism (demanding perfection of others), socially prescribed perfectionism (perceiving that others demand perfection of the self) and peer victimisation among youth sport participants. Youth sports participants (n = 147, 49.0% males, age M = 13.76 years, SD = 1.39) completed measures of domain-specific and performance specific perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1990; Hewitt et al. 2008; Hill, Appleton & Mallinson, 2016), and a measure of perpetrating and experiencing peer victimisation (Hunt, Peters & Rapee, 2012). Multiple regression analyses indicated, dependent on the measure used, other-oriented perfectionism was a positive predictor of physical victimisation, overall perpetration and physical perpetration (p .05). These findings suggest that youth sport participants displaying characteristics of other-oriented perfectionism may be more likely to experience interpersonal difficulties (e.g. hostility and conflict) with their sporting peers