First Advisor

Wright, Stephen

First Committee Member

Parnell, Kenneth

Second Committee Member

Weingartner, Angela

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2024

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Applied Psychology and Counselor Education, APCE Student Work

Abstract

Perfectionistic tendencies have increased substantially over the past 30 years (Curran & Hill, 2019), with additional noticeable increases of both perfectionism and mental health issues since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (Flett & Hewitt, 2020a). Considered a transdiagnostic process that significantly impacts clinical treatment for a wide array of mental health concerns (Limburg et al., 2017), limitations of current perfectionism measurement necessitate the creation of a scale that can inform prevention and intervention as well as further our understanding of this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to develop and provide initial validation for a new perfectionism measure that has utility in both clinical and research settings. An initial item-pool was generated though focus groups, expert review, and theoretical considerations. Participants (N = 500) were recruited from an online crowd-sourcing platform (www.prolific.co) and both Classical Test-Theory and Item-Response Theory analysis were utilized to develop the scale and provide initial support for its reliability and validity. Thus, the 30-item Multidimensional Therapeutic Assessment of Perfectionism (MTAP) incorporating five core facets of perfectionism was created based on the integration of the 2 X 2 Model of Perfectionism (Gaudreau et al., 2018) and the Comprehensive Model of Perfectionistic Behavior (Hewitt et al., 2017). Results provided initial support for strong reliability and validity as well as measurement invariance across gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Implications for counseling psychologists in both research and clinical practice are discussed, as well as limitations and directions for future research.

Abstract Format

html

Extent

186 pages

Local Identifiers

Martell_unco_0161D_11239.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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