Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2022
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Gabrielle Strouse
Abstract
Perfectionism and academic burnout are two multidimensional constructs that have been found to be associated with factors such as academic achievement and personal well-being, and several researchers have posited that these constructs may be more prevalent in particular student populations, such as high-achieving students. There is little research, however, that distinguishes between unique groups of high-achieving college students. To address this gap and further explore group differences in factors affecting student success in higher education, the Almost Perfect Scale – Revised (APS-R) and the student version of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI-S) were used to measure perfectionism and academic burnout in 429 students at a mid-sized American university across three groups: honors (n = 111; 25.9%), high-achieving non-honors (n = 154; 35.9%), and typical undergraduate students (n = 164; 38.2%). Results indicated that differences in perfectionism type exists between groups, with honors students largely characterized as maladaptive perfectionists (n = 69; 62.16%), high-achieving non-honors students mostly as maladaptive (n = 61; 39.61%) or non-perfectionists (n = 60; 38.96%), and the majority of typical students as non-perfectionists (n = 107; 65.24%). Additionally, analyses revealed significant differences in academic burnout by perfectionism type, with adaptive perfectionists exhibiting higher levels of burnout (M = 40.4, SD = 5.74) than either maladaptive (M = 36.4, SD = 5.63), U = 3449, p < .001, r =.400, or non-perfectionists (M = 36.3, SD = 5.16), t(250) = 5.42, p < .001, d = .781. These findings have significant implications for leaders in higher education. First, the low rate of adaptive perfectionists across the sample indicates the need for large-scale interventions focused on mitigating the effects of perfectionistic concerns. Second, as honors students had the highest rates of maladaptive perfectionism, targeted intervention for these students may be especially beneficial. Further investigation is needed into why adaptive perfectionists, a group typically associated with positive outcomes, may be experiencing high levels of academic burnout; specific investigation into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student demands and resources may allow insight into this phenomena.
Subject Categories
Educational Psychology | Higher Education | Psychology
Keywords
academic burnout, college student, high-achieving, honors, perfectionism, undergraduate
Number of Pages
78
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Faiman, Hannah Belle, "Perfectionism and academic burnout in honors, high-achieving non-honors, and typical undergraduate students" (2022). Dissertations and Theses. 317.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/317
