Perfectionistic concerns mediate the relationship between psychologically controlling parenting and achievement goal orientations

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Abstract

The present study investigated the mediating role of perfectionism in the effects of psychologically controlling parenting on achievement goals. Undergraduate students (N = 367) completed measures related to perfectionism, psychologically controlling parenting, and achievement goals. Four dimensions of perfectionism (personal standards, organization, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions) were considered. Psychologically controlling parenting positively predicted doubts about actions and concern over mistakes but not the other two dimensions of perfectionism. Psychologically controlling parenting positively predicted both performance approach and avoidance goals; yet these effects were fully mediated by doubts about actions and concern over mistakes. Organization was positively related to mastery and performance-approach goals and doubts about actions showed the opposite pattern. Concern over mistakes was positively related to performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Personal standards were linked to all types of achievement goals, suggesting both benefits and consequences.

Highlights

► We investigated relationships between parenting, perfectionism and achievement goals. ► Psychologically controlling parenting predicted doubts about actions and concern over mistakes. ► Organization was positively related to mastery and performance-approach goals. ► Personal standard seemed to bolster all types of achievement goals. ► Perfectionistic concerns mediated the relationship between parenting and achievement goals.

Introduction

Students engage in achievement related situations with different achievement goals, which represent different orientations to competence. Some students have goals that focus on learning and improvement (mastery goals) and others are more interested in impressing others with their superior ability (performance-approach goals) or concealing their low ability (performance-avoidance goals). The literature on achievement motivation has demonstrated that these different goals have important implications for students’ learning, engagement, and achievement (see Elliot, 2005, Midgley et al., 2001 for reviews). Given their powerful influences on a wide array of achievement-related processes and outcomes, achievement goals have received intensive attention from researchers (Elliot, 2005).

Social-cognitive perspectives on motivation (Bandura, 1997) posit that students’ achievement motivation evolves through bi-directional influences among personal and contextual factors. To date, researchers have either focused on personal or contextual variables, yet investigations of the joint influence of personal and contextual factors on students’ achievement motivation are rare (Maehr & Zusho, 2009). In the present study, we focused on perfectionism as a personality factor and controlling parenting as a contextual factor. These two factors, independently, have been examined in relation to students’ achievement motivation (Grolnick and Pomerantz, 2009, Stoeber et al., 2009).

Psychologically controlling parenting that involves tactics such as guilt induction and withholding affection decreases students’ motivation (see Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2010 for a review). However, we do not fully understand how psychologically controlling parenting is related to different types of students’ achievement goals. We propose that the development of personality traits related to perfectionism may be a potential mediator. It is likely that parents who use psychologically controlling behavior with their children may foster perfectionism: extremely high, often unrealistic standards and a fear of failure (Soenens et al., 2008). In turn, such perfectionistic tendencies may promote performance goals and hinder mastery goals (Speirs Neumeister & Finch, 2006).

Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate if perfectionism mediates the relationship between psychologically controlling parenting and college students’ achievement goal orientations. To date, there has been no research to examine if perfectionism mediates the relationship between parenting and achievement goals.

Achievement goal theory has been the major theoretical framework for the understanding of students’ academic motivation during the last three decades (Elliot, 2005). Mastery goal orientations involve a focus to develop and improve competence, and task mastery (Elliot & Church, 1997). In contrast, performance goals deal with displaying competence to obtain favorable judgments (i.e., performance-approach goals) or prevent negative judgments (i.e., performance-avoidance goals) from other people (Elliot & Church, 1997). Performance goals focus on social comparison and garnering favorable judgment from others (Elliot & Church, 1997).

These different goal orientations set in motion different cognitive, affective and behavioral processes and outcomes. Mastery goals have been linked to learning and adjustment outcomes such as high self-efficacy, positive affect, deep processing, and task value (Elliot, 2005, Midgley et al., 2001). In contrast, performance-avoidance goals have been linked to low achievement, negative affect, and maladaptive learning strategies (Elliot, 2005). While performance-avoidance goals have shown mostly maladaptive patterns, performance-approach goals have been linked to both positive (e.g., higher graded performance, positive perceived competence) and negative outcomes (self-handicapping, negative affect, etc.) (see Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Thrash, 2002 for a review). Given the links to these educationally important outcomes, it is imperative to understand the personal factors that influence the adoption of different achievement goals.

Across different samples and measures, traits associated with perfectionism have been linked to students’ motivation. These traits include perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns (see Stoeber & Otto, 2006 for a review). Perfectionistic strivings (personal standards, organization, and self-oriented) relate to the exceedingly, often unrealistic, high standards that individuals with perfectionism strive to meet. Perfectionistic concerns (concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, parental criticism, parental expectations, and socially prescribed) involve individuals’ anxiety and self-doubt about not meeting high standards or hypersensitivity to others’ negative judgment.

Previous studies that have utilized Hewitt and Flett (1991)’s self-oriented vs. socially prescribed perfectionism have found that the latter is related to less desirable motivational profiles than the former. Socially prescribed perfectionism has consistently had positive associations with students’ extrinsic motivations while self-oriented perfectionism has been linked to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (Gaudreau and Thompson, 2010, Mills and Blankstein, 2000, Miquelon et al., 2005, Speirs Neumeister and Finch, 2006, Stoeber et al., 2009, Van Yperen, 2006, Verner-Filion and Gaudreau, 2010).

Similar to research contrasting self-oriented vs. socially prescribed perfectionism, research that has examined different sub-types of perfectionism has also yielded inconclusive results. In these studies, researchers distinguished between adaptive (i.e., measures related to perfectionistic strivings) and maladaptive perfectionism (i.e., measures related to perfectionistic concerns). Students with maladaptive perfectionism cited less optimal motivations for achievement (i.e., extrinsic motivation, performance goals, rather than intrinsic motivation and mastery goals) than students with adaptive perfectionism (Gaudreau and Thompson, 2010, Hanchon, 2010). However, students with adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism did not differ in their endorsement of achievement goals (see Hanchon, 2010 for mastery goals and Vansteenkiste et al., 2010 for performance-approach goals). No clear pattern of results on perfectionism and achievement goals, especially for students with adaptive perfectionism, has been documented. Thus, further investigation is needed before we can make a definitive conclusion regarding the relationship between perfectionism and achievement goals.

Both perfectionism traits and achievement goals develop within the context of social interactions. Through these interactions, students internalize messages about expectations for their performance, reasons for such expectations, and consequences of failing to meet those expectations. Students whose parents have very high expectations for achievement and/or critical reactions to their performance are at increased risk for perfectionism (Flett et al., 2002, Hutchinson and Yates, 2008, Speirs Neumeister and Finch, 2006). Research has found that an authoritarian parenting style, characterized by an overly demanding style for compliance with limited warmth and caring, has been linked to both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism (Craddock et al., 2009, Speirs Neumeister and Finch, 2006). However, psychologically controlling parenting, characterized by techniques such as love withdrawal and guilt induction to gain compliance, was linked to maladaptive perfectionism but not to adaptive perfectionism (Craddock et al., 2009). Similar associations have been found not only concurrently but also longitudinally (Soenens et al., 2008).

Controlling parenting has been linked to students’ achievement goals as well (Duchesne and Ratelle, 2010, Gurland and Grolnick, 2005). Maternal controlling behaviors were associated with the adoption of performance goals (Duchesne and Ratelle, 2010, Gurland and Grolnick, 2005). Moreover, the effects of parental control seem to be immediate. Mothers’ controlling behavior during a challenging task with their preschool children decreased mastery motivations across a 15-min session (Moorman & Pomerantz, 2008). Taken together, the past research suggests that controlling parenting positively relates to performance goals but negatively to mastery goals. None of these past studies have separately examined psychologically controlling parenting and thus, it is not clear how psychological control impacts the adoption of achievement goals.

In sum, the available literature supports the relationship between controlling parenting and achievement goals and between controlling parenting and perfectionism. There is also a substantial body of literature on the associations between perfectionism and different achievement goals. Yet, these lines of research have largely been conducted in isolation. What is unknown is if perfectionism mediates the relationship between parenting and achievement goals. In the current study, we examined the links among these three important constructs in conjunction with one another. We hypothesized that perfectionism would mediate the relationship between psychologically controlling parenting and college students’ achievement goal orientation. Specifically, we expected that psychologically controlling parenting would lead to perfectionistic concerns, but not to perfectionistic strivings. In addition, we expected that perfectionistic strivings would be linked to mastery and performance-approach goals but not to performance-avoidance goals. The opposite pattern was expected for perfectionistic concerns.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

This research took place in a medium size state university located in the Midwest in the United States. A total of 367 college students (78.5% female, 21.5% male) enrolled in Educational Psychology courses participated for research credit. The majority of the participants was Caucasian and with other ethnicities reported at smaller percentages (2.7% African–American, 1.4% others, 0.5% Latino/Latina, and 0.5% Asian). The mean age of participants was 21.56.

Potential participants were given a link

Results

Means, standard deviations, reliabilities and correlations among variables are calculated and reported in Table 1.

Discussion

The current study investigated the mediating role of perfectionism in the effects of parental psychological control on achievement goals. Psychologically controlling parenting has been blamed as a major source of the development of perfectionism. The current data indicated that psychologically controlling parenting was associated with two dimensions of perfectionism – doubts about actions and concern over mistakes – which in turn, predicted non-ideal profiles of achievement motivation. However,

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