Perfectionism is Adaptive and Maladaptive, But What’s the Combined Effect?

According to the two-factor model of perfectionism, perfectionism is comprised of two higher-order dimensions—perfectionistic strivings (PS) and perfectionistic concerns (PC)—that typically show different, often opposing relationships with adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Consequently, if we define perfectionism as the combination of PS and PC, it would be important to know what the “combined effect” of perfectionism is, and whether the combined effect is adaptive or maladaptive. Following the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010), we define the combined effect of perfectionism as the difference between mixed perfectionism (the combination of high PS and high PC) and non-perfectionism (the combination of low PS and low PC). Applying the regression approach for testing the 2 × 2 model (Gaudreau, 2012), we show how the combined effect may be computed, and then illustrate combined effects for different patterns of correlations of PS, PC, and an outcome Y. In addition, we present examples from the research literature where PS and PC show zero, adaptive, and maladaptive combined effects. We conclude the article by discussing how our concept of a combined effect can be extended to perfectionism models with more than two factors, and also address limitations and open questions