Demayo 1

Mark Demayo
November 3, 2016
Alexa Doran
ENC 2135
Perfectionism
How many times have people compare themselves to others? What did they do to become
perfect like their role models? Some people start eating healthier, going to the gym, or buying
new clothes. However, for others they start eating less, taking steroids, or buying expensive
products like clothes and make up. People try to become this idea of the perfect guy or girl and it
can have dangerous effects on both their physical and mental health. The idea of perfectionism
can cause many people to have low self-esteem. According to the Image and Self Esteem page
on the Fighting Back Mentor website, from ages fifteen to seventeen over 70% of girls avoid
daily activities, like attending school, because they feel bad about their looks. 44% of girls and
15% of guys in high school will try to lose weight because of low self-esteem (Image and
Self Esteem). The average person desires perfection, but it is impossible and if people
constantly look for perfection they will never be content. Striving for perfection is a goal
everybody should aim for, but when it becomes excessive, perfectionism can cause both physical
and mental problems.
Exactly what is perfectionism? In the journal article Reliability and Validity of the
Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale among Chinese College Students, by Xueting Zhou,
Siyao Wu, Hong Zhu, and Taishen Cai, perfectionism can be defined as a personality
characteristic about striving for flawlessness and exceedingly high personal standards

Demayo 2
accompanied by tendencies for overly critical self-evaluation and concerns about others negative
evaluations (Zhou et al. 727). Originally, perfectionism in terms of dimensionality was
hypothesized as a one-dimensional structure. However, with new research perfectionism has now
been comprised of six dimensions: concern over mistakes, personal standards, parental
expectations, parental criticism, doubting of actions, and organization (Zhou et al. 728). With
overall perfectionistic behavior, there are three crucial components according to research: selforiented perfectionism other-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism
(Zhou et al. 728). Perfectionism has also been classified as a dual-aspect characteristic, normal
and neurotic perfectionism, by other researchers. Normal perfectionists are people who have
realistic goals, gain joy out of hard work, and can choose to be less detailed. On the other hand,
neurotic perfectionists are people who accept nothing less but perfect or impossible performance
levels and deem their efforts as unacceptable. From research done by factor analysis,
perfectionism was found to have a negative aspect and positive aspect.
Positive and Negative Perfectionism and the Big Five Personality Factors is a journal
article by Sarah J. Egan, Jan P. Piek, and Murray J. Dyck and it talks about how they did a study
on a group of clinical participants and a group of athletes to determine if their personality pattern
was related to positive and negative perfectionism (Egan et al.). A persons personality pattern
has five big personality factors: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and
openness to experience. The study decided to compare these two groups specifically because for
athletes it is common to have a low score on negative perfectionism in comparison to other
groups. Comparing them to a group of people, who are receiving treatment for a psychological
disorder that scored high on negative perfectionism would be a good comparison. The results of
the study were that negative perfectionism for the clinical group was associated with low

Demayo 3
agreeableness. While with athletes, negative perfectionism was associated with neuroticism,
extraversion and conscientiousness. For positive perfectionism both groups had similar results.
To put all of this in perspective, someone that scores low on agreeableness would have the
characteristics of being egocentric, antagonistic, tough-minded, low in altruism, and
competitive rather than cooperative (Egan et al. 111). In the study, athletes scored higher on
conscientiousness, achievement striving, competence, and order. This evidence makes sense
because these characteristics describe an athlete. Perfectionism is not always negative and when
people can distinguish the difference they can accomplish many feats.
Amari Cooper, former Alabama wide receiver, is now in the National Football League
and is a good example of the positive side of perfectionism. Andy Staples wrote an article, The
Perfectionist in Sports Illustrated talking about Amari Cooper and his journey (Staples). Why
does he put more effort into his workouts and strive to be the best he can possibly be? Cooper in
front of national TV told a story about his mother, Michelle Green. After coming home from
work Cooper was asked to come with his mother to the supermarket to get groceries. However,
Cooper refuse because he was tired. When Green return from the grocery store, marks were
visible on her arms from carrying the bags. Cooper then thought about how his mother also came
home from a full days work and still decided to walk three miles to go to the supermarket.
Cooper also realized that his mother never complained about having to support three kids and
even two nephews. While Coopers mother would not remember that night, Cooper would for a
long time. At the Heisman ceremony, Cooper would go on to say Im still kind of feeding off of
that (Staples 75). This is the type of perfectionism we need. Wanting to succeed not because if
we fail there are dire consequences, but to dedicate our achievements to the people we care
about. Coopers perfectionism is based off his mothers dedication. A persons perfectionism

Demayo 4
needs to be based off wanting to succeed not needing to succeed. Perfectionism can be positive
and lead to success. However, Amari Cooper is just one athlete. How much does perfectionism
affect more than one athlete?
Paul A. Sellars, Lynne Evans, and Owen Thomas in their article, The Effects of
Perfectionism in Elite Sport: Experiences of Unhealthy Perfectionists, discuss how they did a
study on perfectionism by examining 10 elite perfectionist athletes, 5 male and 5 female
(Sellars et al. 219). Every athlete was interviewed individually about perfectionism in a private
room for 40 to 60 minutes (Sellars et al. 222)). The interview was based around three
sections: what was the athletes view of perfectionism, how did perfectionism affected their
performance in their sport, and what they would do to appease their tendencies for perfectionism.
Among all the athletes, high personal standards were shown. The reason for this is because high
standards can motivate the athletes to achieve perfection in their sport. One athlete said, I think
it[perfectionism] makes you better because you want to keep going and try and perfect
everything (Sellars et al. 223). This show the potential benefits of perfectionism in sport, but
high personal standards can lead to being too critical about oneself or being dissatisfied with
ones own performance. Unhealthy perfectionists tend to be overly self-critical because they
focus too much on their personal standards. For example, one athlete said, I have a tendency to
look at the negatives before the positives (Sellars et al. 224). Another athlete even thought he
was not judge harsh enough. These findings show the harmful effects of unhealthy or
maladaptive perfectionism and indicate that the characteristic of being highly self-critical is
detrimental. Maladaptive perfectionism can cause physical and mental health problems.
Abigail Raminsky wrote a magazine called Perfectionism 101 talking about dancers
and how their perfectionism can lead to serious physical and mental health problems

Demayo 5
(Rasminsky). Megan LeCrone, a New York City Ballet corps member, worked hard every day to
make her dancing perfect. However, she focused more on her mistakes than her improvements.
Megan said I constantly saw my weakness and flaws as something wrong with me (Rasminsky
34). This is neurotic perfectionism. Unlike Amari Coopers perfectionism which can be
beneficial, Megans neurotic perfectionism can be harmful. The difference between
perfectionism and neurotic perfectionism is the process. Perfectionists have good work ethic and
high standards. When this is taken too seriously it becomes neurotic or maladaptive
perfectionism. Maladaptive perfectionism is dangerous and can cause problems like: disordered
eating, anxiety, and substance abuse. Maladaptive perfectionism is not healthy and needs to be
treated when signs of it are first shown. How can people tell when perfectionism becomes
dangerous and what can they do to help? Neurotic perfectionists will set unrealistic standards,
belittle the work and focus more on the outcome, and think about what they should have done
instead of focusing on what they can or already accomplish. To help prevent maladaptive
perfectionism look at the physical and psychological problems. For example, Megan was not
getting enough sleep, which would make anyone feel awful. Another way, is to stop thinking
negatively about yourself. I tend to do this a lot. Sometimes I think about too much about the
mistakes I made or I come up with scenarios in my head that end in me being depressed or
feeling negative. When a negative thought comes up immediately stop and instead treat the
mistake as an opportunity to improve yourself.
Anxiety is an important factor in determining the difference between perfectionism and
unhealthy perfectionism. Umair Akram, Jason G. Ellis, and Nicola L. Barclay published an
journal article called Anxiety Mediates the Relationship between Perfectionism and Insomnia
Symptoms: A Longitudinal Study (Akram et al.) In the article they discussed about how they

Demayo 6
conducted a study to determine to what extent does the association between perfectionism and
insomnia symptoms was mediated by anxiety (Akram et al. 1). The results of the study were
that different facets of perfectionism were found to have a relationship with insomnia
symptoms (Akram et al. 9). Interestingly, the relationship between perfectionism and insomnia
was found to be partially mediated by symptoms of anxiety (Akram et al. 1). When people
receive therapy treatment for anxiety there was a significant reduction in perfectionism.
(Akram et al. 12). Another journal article, Perfectionism and its Relationship with Anticipatory
Processing in Social Anxiety, by Jessica H. Scott, Keong Yap, Andrew J.P. Francis, and
Sharynnn Schuster talks about how perfectionistic beliefs and anticipatory processing are key
maintaining factors of social anxiety (Scott et al. 187). This means that anxiety has a factor in
determining unhealthy perfectionism and can be used to notice early signs of when perfectionism
is too excessive.
Eating disorders are becoming a common health problem, specifically among
adolescents. Maria D Teixeira, Ana T. Pereira, Mariana V. Marques, Jorge M. Saraiva, and
Antonio F de Macedo did a study on eating behaviors, body image, perfectionism, and selfesteem in their journal article, Eating Behaviors, Body Image, Perfectionism, and Self-Esteem
in a sample of Portuguese Girls (Teixeria et al. 135). The results of the study revelated that the
confluence of perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem promotes development
of bulimic symptoms (Teixeria et al. 136). Media images can have an impact on people. The
image of the perfect guy or girl is constantly changing, but each time the image increases in
muscle mass. With many supplements, both legal and illegal, out there and other muscleenhancing techniques accessible to the public, there is a potential risk of unhealthy behaviors.
Exposure to these images of perfect people has caused young men to be frustrated with their

Demayo 7
body and have muscle dysmorphia, a psychological disorder about being obsessed with ones
own body being small when it is normal. M.E. Eisenberg, M. Wall, and D. Neumark-Sztainer
discuss about muscle enhancing behaviors in their article Muscle-Enhancing Behaviors among
Adolescent Girls and Boys (Eisenberg et al.). A study was done on 2793 adolescents, guys
and girls, from 20 middle and high schools (Eisenberg et al.). Five muscle-enhancing
behaviors were evaluated: changing eating, exercising, protein powders, steroids and other
muscle-enhancing substances (Eisenberg et al.). Next, a total score displaying use of three or
more behaviors was created. The results of the study showed that both boy and girls used some
type of muscle-enhancing behavior. However, boys were more common to use muscle-enhancing
behaviors. 5.9% stated that they used steroids and according to the results, Asian American
youth were shown to be more commonly related to this behavior (Eisenberg et al.). I am Asian
American and although I have not use steroids I can say that I have three of the muscleenhancing behaviors. I started workout out more during my middle school years because I was
unsatisfied with my body. I constantly look at my classmates, specifically the athletes, and
thought that they were perfect. While I did not have muscle dysmorphia I was obsessed with
have the perfect body. This led to bad self-esteem that would become a problem until my high
school years. While there is nothing wrong with workout or eating healthier, it becomes a
problem when it is too excessive or almost an obsession.
Every single person has flaws and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Instead, we should
admire them. Life is interesting because all the flaws and moments that are not perfect define us.
Being perfect is an impossible task. Perfection is a matter of changing often, while life is about
progressing or improving. Striving to be perfect is a worthy goal, but sometimes goals are not
meant to be reached. People need to set goals in their life, but to live a healthy life, they need to

Demayo 8
be realistic. If someone could reach perfection what is left after it? There is nothing left to
achieve and then what would be the point of life? If someone is perfect, there is no room for
imagination, growth, or knowledge. That is the beauty of being human. Being human is perfect.

Demayo 9
Works Cited
Akram, Umair, Ellis, Jason G., and Nicola L. Barclay. "Anxiety Mediates the Relationship
between Perfectionism and Insomnia Symptoms: A Longitudinal Study." PLoS ONE, vol.
10, no. 10, 2015., pp. 1-14.
Egan, Sarah J., Piek, Jan P., and Murray J. Dyck. "Positive and Negative Perfectionism and the
Big Five Personality Factors." Behaviour Change, vol. 32, no. 2, 2015., pp. 104-113.
Eisenberg, M. E., Wall, M., and D. Neumark-Sztainer. "Muscle-Enhancing Behaviors among
Adolescent Girls and Boys." Pediatrics, vol. 130, no. 6, 2012., pp. 1019-1026.
"Image and Self Esteem." Fighting Back Mentor Program. Mentor Resource Center, n.d.
Rasminsky, Abigail. "Perfectionism 101." Dance Spirit, vol. 13, no. 3, 2009., pp. 34-36.
Scott, Jessica H., Yap, Keong, Francis, Andrew J.P., and Sharynn Schuster. "Perfectionism and its
Relationship with Anticipatory Processing in Social Anxiety." Australian Journal of
Psychology, vol. 66, no. 3, 2014., pp. 187-196.
Sellars, Paul A., Evans, Lynne, and Owen Thomas. "The Effects of Perfectionism in Elite Sport:
Experiences of Unhealthy Perfectionists." Sport Psychologist, vol. 30, no. 3, 2016., pp. 219230.
Staples, Andy. "The Perfectionist." Sports Illustrated, vol. 122, no. 16, 2015., pp. 74-77.

Demayo 10
Teixeira, Maria D., Pereira, Ana T., Marques, Mariana V., Saraiva, Jorge M., and Antonia F de
Macedo. "Eating Behaviors, Body Image, Perfectionism, and Self-Esteem in a Sample of
Portuguese Girls." Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, vol. 38, no. 2, 2016., pp. 135-140.
Zhou, Xueting, Wu, Siyao, Zhu, Hong, and Taishen Cai. "Reliability and Validity of the Positive
and Negative Perfectionism Scale among Chinese College Students." Social Behavior &
Personality: an international journal, vol. 44, no. 5, 2016., pp. 727-736.