The role of perfectionism and defensive pessimism in student’s academic achievement and well – being

Akademsko obrazovanje studentima predstavlja veliki izazov te se od njih očekuje kontinuirani rad, a njihovo se konačno znanje vrjednuje ocjenama na ispitima. Zbog visokih zahtjeva tijekom studiranja neki studenti koriste se kognitivnim strategijama, kao što je, primjerice, obrambeni pesimizam, postavljajući niska očekivanja kako bi smanjili osjećaj anksioznosti. Također, neki od studenata skloniji su težiti postavljanju visokih postignuća, odnosno, takvi pojedinci pripadaju grupi perfekcionista. Primjerice, adaptivni perfekcionisti žele ostvarili što bolji akademski uspjeh kako bi se istaknuli pred drugim studentima. No, nerijetko se neadaptivni perfekcionizam povezuje s lošijim akademskim uspjehom. Sve navedeno također je povezano sa zadovoljstvom životom i psihološkim procvatom kao komponentama dobrobiti studenata. Studenti s višim adaptivnim perfekcionizmom pokazuju veću razinu dobrobiti, dok oni s višim neadaptivnim perfekcionizmom postižu nižu dobrobit. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja ispitati doprinos perfekcionizma i obrambenog pesimizma akademskom uspjehu i komponentama dobrobiti. U online istraživanju sudjelovala su 304 studenta s različitih sveučilišta i veleučilišta u Hrvatskoj. Sudionici su ispunjavali Revidiranu ljestvicu težnje perfekcionizmu, Upitnik obrambenog pesimizma, Skalu zadovoljstva životom i Skalu psihološkog procvata. Najznačajnijim pozitivnim prediktorom obrambenog pesimizma pokazala se dimenzija diskrepancije (neadaptivni perfekcionizam), zatim red i visoki standardi (adaptivni perfekcionizam), dok je dob bila negativni prediktor. Značajnim pozitivnim prediktorima akademskog uspjeha studenata pokazale su se dimenzija visokih standarda, potom spol i godina studija. Obrambeni pesimizam nije se pokazao značajnim prediktorom u objašnjavanju akademskog uspjeha. Najvažnijim negativnim prediktorom zadovoljstva životom i psihološkoga procvata kao komponenata dobrobiti pokazala se dimenzija diskrepancije, dok su visoki standardi i red značajni pozitivni prediktori. Ne postoji prediktivna vrijednost obrambenog pesimizma u objašnjavanju komponenata dobrobiti.Academic education poses a great challenge to students, whom are expected to work continuously and their final knowledge is evaluated by their exam grades. Due to high expectation during the study, some students use cognitive strategies such as defensive pessimism by setting low expectations in order to reduce the feeling of anxiety. In addition, some students are more likely to strive for higher achievements. In other words, they belong to a group of perfectionists. For instance, adaptive perfectionists want to reach the best possible academic achievement and to stand out, when compared to their fellow students. However, maladaptive perfectionism was often found to be correlated with worse academic achievement. All beforehand mentioned was often correlated with life satisfaction and flourishing as components of students' wellbeing. High adaptive perfectionist students show higher level of wellbeing, while high maladaptive perfectionists have shown lower levels of wellbeing. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to examine the contribution of perfectionism and defensive pessimism to academic achievement and components of wellbeing. 304 students from different universities in Croatia participated in an online study. Participants filled out Almost Perfect Scale–Revised, Defensive Pessimism Questionnaire, Short Form Satisfaction With Life Scale and Flourishing Scale. The most important positive predictor of defensive pessimism was the dimension of discrepancy (maladaptive perfectionism), followed by order and high standards (adaptive perfectionism), while age turned out to be negative predictor. Significant positive predictors of academic achievement were dimension of high standards, followed by sex and year of studying. Defensive pessimism was not significant predictor in explaining academic achievement. The most important significant negative predictor of life satisfaction and flourishing as components of wellbeing was the dimension of discrepany, while high standards and order were positive predictors. There was no predictive value of defensive pessimism in explaining the components of wellbeing