Perfectionism and self-reported health-related behaviors

Abstract

The current study examined the relationship between perfectionism and a variety of health behaviors. Participants were 395 undergraduate students from Ball State University. Participants completed the Perfectionism Inventory (PI) to measure perfectionistic tendencies and the Multidimensional Health Behaviors Questionnaire (MHBQ), developed by the researcher, to measure several dimensions of health behaviors. The results showed the MHBQ to have good internal reliability. Factor analysis of the PI did not support the perfectionism constructs proposed by Hill et al., (2004). Only the subscales Organization and Perceived Parental Pressure were supported by the data. The subscale Organization was moderately correlated with overall scores on the MHBQ. Women scored significantly higher on the PI than men. Honors College students scored significantly higher on both the PI and the MHBQ than non-Honors College students. These results suggest there may be a relationship between perfectionistic tendencies and health-related behaviors. Further analysis comparing several different perfectionism scales and the MHBQ should be conducted to continue to investigate this relationship. Further analysis should also be conducted using a more diverse population to increase the reliability and validity of the MHBQ.