Perfectionism and academic burnout: Longitudinal extension of the bifactor model of perfectionism

Abstract Perfectionism is a personality disposition that is highly relevant in the education domain and related to various educational and psychological outcomes in students. As students experience challenges and stress in school, academic burnout is also a critical phenomenon. The current study investigated longitudinal effects of perfectionism on academic burnout, using a recently advanced bifactor model of perfectionism. With a sample of 336 secondary school students (7th–12th grades, 63% female) across three waves spanning a six-month period. Results of the confirmatory analysis and longitudinal invariance tests showed that the bifactor-(S·I – 1) model with the general perfectionism, defined by one item of concerns over mistakes as the reference item, and specific perfectionism factor better explained the multidimensional structure of perfectionism, relative to the two-factor model. Specific perfectionistic concerns remained unreliable after controlling for the general factor, while specific perfectionistic strivings remained as a more reliable factor. The cross-lagged analyses showed that the general perfectionism predicted longitudinal increases in emotional exhaustion and cynicism. On the contrary, specific perfectionistic strivings did not predict changes in students' burnout.