Perfectionism and the Big Five: Conscientiousness predicts longitudinal increases in self-oriented perfectionism Joachim Stoeber a, * , Kathleen Otto b , Claudia Dalbert c a Department of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United Kingdom b Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Seeburgstr. 14-20, D-04130 Leipzig, Germany c Department of Educational Psychology, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, D-06099 Halle/Saale, Germany article info Article history: Received 24 November 2008 Received in revised form 21 March 2009 Accepted 1 April 2009 Available online 1 May 2009 Keywords: Perfectionism Big Five Personality development Adolescence abstract Findings from cross-sectional studies on the relationship between perfectionism and the Big Five person- ality traits demonstrate that conscientiousness shows significant positive correlations with self-oriented perfectionism, and neuroticism with socially prescribed perfectionism. The question is whether conscien- tiousness and neuroticism also predict longitudinal changes in self-oriented and socially prescribed per- fectionism. A sample of 214 adolescents aged 14–19 years completed measures of the Big Five and perfectionism twice over a period of 5–8 months. As was expected, conscientiousness predicted longitu- dinal increases in self-oriented perfectionism. Neuroticism, however, did not predict any longitudinal increases in perfectionism—neither in self-oriented nor in socially prescribed perfectionism. Providing support for McCrae and Costa’s dynamic personality theory (McCrae & Costa, 1999), which holds that broad personality traits play a part in the development of lower-level personality characteristics, the findings suggest that conscientiousness is a trait that plays a role in the development of self-oriented perfectionism. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Over the past 15 years, perfectionism research has made great progress in understanding the nature, correlates, and conse- quences of perfectionism (see Enns & Cox, 2002). Moreover, re- search has gained comprehensive knowledge on the role that family factors play in the development of perfectionism (see Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & Macdonald, 2002). In contrast, no study so far has investigated the role that personality traits play in this develop- ment. The present study aims to remedy this situation by providing the first investigation examining whether the Big Five personality traits predict longitudinal changes in perfectionism. 1.1. Perfectionism According to dictionary definitions, perfectionism is the ‘‘dispo- sition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable,” with perfection defined as flawlessness or an ‘‘unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence” (Merriam-Webster OnLine dictionary, de- tails from the author). Scientific theory and research, however, have progressed to a more differentiated view that conceptualizes perfectionism as a multidimensional personality characteristic (e.g., Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1991; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001). Regarding multidimensional models of perfectionism, the most prevalent and most widely researched model is Hewitt and Flett’s (1991) model of perfectionism. This model differentiates between two main forms of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism. 1 Self-oriented perfectionism comprises beliefs that striving for perfection and being perfect are important and is characterized by setting excessively high standards for oneself. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism comprises beliefs that others have high standards for oneself and that accep- tance by others is conditional on fulfilling these standards (Campbell & Di Paula, 2002; Enns & Cox, 2002; Hewitt & Flett, 1991, 2004). When reviewing the literature on self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, the findings are in agreement that socially prescribed perfectionism is a negative form of perfectionism showing strong and consistent positive correlations with negative affect and various other indicators of psychological maladjustment such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation (Enns & Cox, 2002; Hewitt & Flett, 2004). 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.04.004 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1227 824196; fax: +44 1227 827030. E-mail address: J.Stoeber@kent.ac.uk (J. Stoeber). 1 The model comprises a further dimension, other-oriented perfectionism, which captures individual differences in holding perfectionistic standards for others. Because other-oriented perfectionism is not regarded to be core dimension of multidimensional perfectionism (e.g., Enns & Cox, 2002; Stoeber & Otto, 2006), it was excluded from the present study. Personality and Individual Differences 47 (2009) 363–368 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid