The prevalence of perfectionism and positive mental health in undergraduate students

The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to assess the relationship between mental health and perfectionist personality styles within Dalhousie University‘s undergraduate psychology program (N = 191). Positive mental health is characterized by high social, emotional, and psychological functioning in everyday life. Perfectionism has traditionally been studied as a correlate of poor mental health, although relatively recent research has offered a reconceptualization wherein the adaptiveness of perfectionism can support positive mental health. In particular, the perfectionist personality style may be categorized into three types: non-perfectionist, maladaptive perfectionist, and adaptive perfectionist. We classified participants based on their perfectionist personality style and assessed mental health scores across the three perfectionist personality styles. We found that mental health was highest in adaptive perfectionists. Our findings demonstrate that perfectionism can be an adaptive personality style and positively relate to mental health. Our study supports the reconceptualized definition of perfectionism as a potentially adaptive personality style.