Educational Research Journal


Vol. 23 No. 1 , Pages 1 - 19 , 2008

Perfectionism and the Striving for Excellence

David W. Chan

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of recent research studies on perfectionism in the context of the changing conceptions of perfectionism as well as the development of new multidimensional perfectionism measures. The findings on the dimensionality and typology of perfectionism as well as the prevalence of perfectionism among gifted students have led to the conclusion that perfectionism can be distinguished into positive and negative dimensions, and that there are healthy as well as unhealthy perfectionists. Implications of these recent findings for the promotion of positive perfectionism as the striving of excellence and the call for more longitudinal research studies on perfectionism of Chinese students are discussed.

Keywords: excellence, perfectionism, dimensionality, typology, prevalence, gifted students, Hong Kong

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