Perfectionism, locus of control, and academic stress among college students

Two forms of perfectionism—perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns—have been examined as correlates of psychological distress, but very little research has examined how these relate to academic stress of college students. We examined these dimensions of perfectionism as predictors of anticipated stress in response to simulated instances of academic failure, and we examined whether locus of control of the stressor played a moderating role. College students (N = 432) completed online measures of perfectionism, global appraisals of academic stress, and anticipated stress and locus of control in response to six hypothetical examples of academic failure. Perfectionistic concerns was associated with appraisals of greater academic stress, whereas perfectionistic strivings was associated with appraisals of lower academic stress. Yet perfectionistic strivings was positively related to anticipated stress in response to simulated failure; this association was stronger when locus of control was more internal than when it was more external. These findings have implications for understanding the contexts in which perfectionistic strivings is and is not associated with college-level academic stress.