Longitudinal effects of an intervention on perfectionism in adolescents

espanolPerfeccionismo es un rasgo de la personalidad caracterizado por la lucha por la perfeccion y la fi jacion de normas de rendimiento excesivamente altas. Se ha asociado con una amplia gama de condiciones psicopatologicas. En consecuencia, la prevencion de sus efectos nocivos debe comenzar temprano. Objetivo: investigar si una sesion para manejar el perfeccionismo puede reducir los niveles de este rasgo, dos y seis meses mas tarde. Metodo: una muestra comunitaria de 978 adolescentes, de tres secundarias, respondio a un cuestionario de auto-reporte incluyendo la Escala de Perfeccionismo Infantil y Adolescente antes y despues de una sesion. El grupo de Intervencion recibio una sesion orientada a reducir el perfeccionismo. El grupo control 1 una sesion sobre habitos saludables y el grupo control 2 no recibio intervencion. Resultados: al inicio, no se encontraron diferencias signifi cativas de medias por genero y por escuela. Despues de una sesion para manejar el Perfeccionismo, el grupo de intervencion mostro una reduccion signifi cativa en las puntuaciones del perfeccionismo auto-orientado, dos meses (p = .001) y seis meses despues (p = .02). Sin reducciones signifi cativas en los controles. Discusion: nuestros hallazgos sugieren que los adolescentes son sensibles a intervenciones cortas para reducir el perfeccionismo. EnglishPerfectionism is a personality disposition characterized by a person´s striving for fl awlessness and the setting of excessively high performance standards. This trait has been associated with a broad range of psychopathological conditions. Consequently, prevention of its harmful effects must start early. Objective: To investigate if one group session to manage perfectionism has the effect of reducing the levels of this trait, two and six months later. Method: A community-based sample of 978 Portuguese adolescents from three different high schools completed a selfreporting questionnaire including the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, before and after one skill session. Three groups were formed: the intervention group received a skill session aimed at reducing perfectionism; control group 1 received a skill session aimed at healthy habits, and control group 2 received no intervention. Results: At baseline, no signifi cant mean differences were found by gender or by school in Total Perfectionism or its dimensions. After one session to manage Perfectionism, the intervention group showed signifi cant reduction in self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) scores, two months (p = .001) and six months later (p = .02). No signifi cant reductions were observed in the control groups. Discussion: Our fi ndings suggest that adolescents are sensitive to short interventions aimed at reducing perfectionism.