A short prospective study on multidimensional perfectionism and coping in adolescents

Abstract

Despite the growing literature addressing multidimensional perfectionism and coping, longitudinal studies on adolescents are scarce and have focused primarily on self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, leaving other-oriented perfectionism underexamined. Thus, investigating the longitudinal relation between multidimensional perfectionism and coping strategies was the primary aim of this study. Two-wave self-report data were collected from 227 adolescents (15-18 years old) over a one-month period. Cross-sectional analyses indicated that all three of perfectionism’s dimensions were linked to distinct coping profiles, with self-oriented perfectionism linked to engagement-oriented strategies, and the remaining two dimensions linked to emotion-focused and disengagement-oriented strategies. Regression analyses further demonstrated that other-oriented perfectionism uniquely predicted increases in behavioral disengagement over time, whereas no short-term changes in coping strategies were observed for the other two dimensions. The present findings underline the importance of examining all three dimensions of perfectionism and adopting a developmental perspective to better understand how personality characteristics shape stress regulation during adolescence.