Peter R. E. Crocker *, Patrick Gaudreau **, Amber D. Mosewich *** and Kristina Kljajic **
(*) School of Kinesiology. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
(**) School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
(***) School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Citation
R. E. Crocker, P., Gaudreau, P., D. Mosewich, A., Kljajic, K. (2014). Perfectionism and the stress process in intercollegiate athletes: Examining the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism in sport competition. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45(4), 325-348. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2014.45.325
Abstract
This study examined the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism to predict competitionrelated stress variables in intercollegiate athletes. A sample of 179 athletes (n=99 women) completed measures of sport perfectionism at Time 1 and 4-5 weeks later completed measures of coping, appraisal, affect, and goal progress after a competition. Results of moderated hierarchical regression analysis found support for the 2 × 2 model’s four hypotheses for challenge and control appraisals and goal progress. However, only two hypotheses were supported for threat appraisals, negative affect, and avoidance coping. Exploratory analysis found some evidence that goal progress moderated the relationship between perfectionism, coping, and control appraisals. Overall, the results indicated that pure personal standards perfectionism was associated with better outcomes than pure evaluative concerns perfectionism. For most variables, evaluative concerns perfectionism was related to the poorest outcomes. The results indicate that the 2 × 2 model is a viable framework to evaluate the joint influences of perfectionism dimensions on the stress process.
Keywords: Affect, Coping, Cognitive appraisal, Goal achievement