Date of Award

1994

Degree Name

M.A. in Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Clinical observations and theoretical viewpoints have suggested that perfectionism leads to negative effects on one’s life and personal relationships. The present study had two purposes. The first purpose was to examine the relation between perfectionism and marital satisfaction. The second purpose was to examine the difference in levels of perfectionism between spouses and its relation to levels of marital satisfaction. The subjects in the present study were spouses from 53 couples. Four self-report measures were completed by each spouse: a demographic questionnaire, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Marital Comparison Level Index, and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to test the hypotheses. For husbands, perfectionism was not related to marital satisfaction. However, contrary to expectation, wives’ overall perfectionism, self-oriented perfectionism (high standards for oneself), and socially prescribed perfectionism (the perceived need to live up to the standards of others) were positively related to their marital satisfaction (r = .32, p < .05; r = .33, p < .01; r = .25, p< .05, respectively). Differences in levels of self-oriented perfectionism and differences in levels of other-oriented perfectionism (high standards for others) between spouses were not related to marital satisfaction. However, the difference between overall levels of perfectionism between spouses was negatively related to both husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction (r = -.26, p< .05; r = -.24, p < .05, respectively). In addition, the difference between levels of socially prescribed perfectionism between spouses was negatively related to both husbands’ and wives’ marital satisfaction (r = -.28, p < .05; r = -.31, p < .05, respectively). The results suggest that perfectionism is positively related to marital satisfaction, which appears to contradict the clinical observations and theoretical viewpoints that perfectionism has negative effects on one’s marital relationship. However, much of the literature on perfectionism has focused on neurotic perfectionists, whereas the subjects of the present study were not neurotic perfectionists. The findings of this study were consistent with theories that suggest that spouses who are similar to one other in levels of perfectionism are more satisfied with their marital relationship.

Keywords

Perfectionism (Personality trait), Marital status Psychological aspects, Spouses Psychology, Interpersonal relations

Rights Statement

Copyright © 1994, author

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