Psychometric properties of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale for Australian adolescent girls: Clarification of multidimensionality and perfectionist typologies

The psychometric properties of the 'Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale' (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990) are investigated, to determine its usefulness as a measurement of perfectionism with Australian secondary school girls, and to find empirical support for the existence of both healthy and unhealthy types of perfectionist students. Participants were 409 female mixed-ability students from Years 7, 8, 10 and 11 in two private secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Factor analyses yielded four rather than the six factors theorized by Frost et al. Cluster analysis indicated a distinct typology of healthy perfectionists, unhealthy perfectionists and non-perfectionists. Healthy perfectionists were characterised by higher levels on Organisation, while unhealthy perfectionists scored higher on the Parental Expectations & Criticism and Concern over Mistakes & Doubts dimensions of perfectionism. Both types of perfectionists scored high on Personal Standards.