The Longitudinal Associations Between Perfectionism, Depression, and Academic Achievement in High School Students

Abstract

The longitudinal relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement in high school students, along with the potential mediating effects of depression symptoms were examined. Specifically, 626 Canadian adolescents from the McMaster Teen Study were followed prospectively from Grade 9 to Grade 12. Using path analysis, results demonstrated a positive relation between academic achievement and both self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, in particular, in the earlier high school years. Additionally, socially prescribed perfectionism and depression symptoms were found to be concurrently related at each time. Results suggested that developmental pathways between these variables may only begin to emerge toward the end of high school, potentially as a result of increased stress, as well as the developmental increase that is seen in depressive disorders. Finally, a negative reciprocal relation was found between depression symptoms and academic achievement, which supports the idea that depression could either lead to lower achievement or be elicited by failure. Although symptoms of depression were not found to mediate the relation between self-oriented or socially prescribed perfectionism and academic achievement, the expansion of time points examined might help to clarify the developmental pattern of the relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement. Clinical implications, strengths and limitations, and future directions are discussed.