"Reach for the sky, you'll fall on the moon": Relationship between perfectionism, goal regulation and academic burnout

Details

Supervisors

Douilliez, Céline

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

“Be perfect in every area of life” seems to represent a fundamental doctrine across many western societies. Recent socio-cultural changes are seen as catalysts for widespread increase in perfectionist tendencies. Perfectionism involves striving for flawlessness by pursuing exceedingly high standards and holding critical attitudes towards themselves. Increase in perfectionism certainly comes from today’s competitive world, where rank and performance matter excessively and comparisons are emphasized. With the increase of social media posts showing unattainable standards of perfections, millennials are surrounded by too many criterions upon which to measure their success. This pressure to reach the unreachable and to succeed in every aspect of life may result in negative psychological outcomes. Moreover, challenges faced by students to reach their educational goals are among basic concern of each education system. The consequence of the educational demands placed on young people may result in academic burnout symptoms: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced academic efficacy. Nevertheless, the ability to disengage from unattainable goals and reengage in new and meaningful ones might be an aspect of an adaptive form of perfectionism and results in positive psychological outcomes. Consequently, the purpose of the present study is to explore the association between perfectionism, goal regulation and academic burnout. In order to investigate this relation, two hypotheses were proposed: (1) the positive relationship between perfectionism and academic burnout is mediated by goal disengagement; (2) academic support moderates the association between perfectionism and goal disengagement. Academic support will also moderate the positive and indirect effect of perfectionism on academic burnout, through goal disengagement. The sample of the study consisted of 255 students, who responded to an online questionnaire assessing the different variables of interest. The results did not show any significant mediations in the relation between perfectionism, goal regulation and academic burnout. Furthermore, results did not show any moderated mediation effect of academic support on the previous association. However, some correlation between the variables of interests were significant and relevant for future studies. Further research should investigate the link between these variables from a different perspective.