Stber, J. (2000).

Frost Multidimensional
Perfectionism Scale. In J. Maltby, C. A.
Lewis, & A. Hill (Eds.), Commissioned
reviews of 250 psychological tests (Vol. 1, pp.
310-314). Lampeter, UK: Edwin Mellen Press.
". - . ~
310 Personality and Inidvidual Differences
3.16: FROST MULTIDIMENSIONAL PERFECTIONISM SCALE (FMPS).
AUTHORS: Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate.
VARIABLE: Perfectionism.
DESCRIPTION: The study of perfectionism has a long history in both clinical
research and personality psychology (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Whereas early
conceptualizations suggested that perfectionism was a unidimensional concept
(Bums, 1980), recent views have stressed that perfectionism is multidimensional
in nature (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1991). The
Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) is a multidimensional self-
report scale of perfectionism. It contains a total of 35 items. These are subsumed
to the following six subscales: Concern over Mistakes (CM; 9 items), Personal
Standards (PS; 7 items), Parental Expectations (PE; 5 items), Parental Criticism
(PC; 4 items), Doubts about actions (0; 4 items), and Organization (0; 6 items).
The first five subscales represent the core dimensions of the FMPS whereas the
subscale Organization was found to be only loosely related to the other subscales.
Consequently, Frost el 01. (1990) recommended to exclude 0 when calculating
total scores (see Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990, pp. 454-456). With
this, the FMPS total score is based on 29 items. All items are scored in the
direction of perfectionism with a 5-point answer scale from Strongly disagree (I)
to Strongly agree (5), the potential range of FMPS total scores is 29-145.
Unfortunately, the scale by Frost et 01., (1990) and the one by Hewitt & Flett,
(1991) were both named the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS). To
avoid possible confusion between these scales, I will follow the suggestion by
Flett, Sawatzky, & Hewitt (1995) and refer to the scale by Frost et 01. (1990) as
the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS).
SAMPLE: The FMPS is intended to be used in nonclinical and clinical samples.
Personality and Indivdual Differences 311
RELIABILITY: Internal consistency: The FMPS total score has shown high levels
of internal consistency with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .87 (Parker &
Stumpf, 1995) to .91 (Frost, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1991). Also, the subscales
have shown satisfactory internal consistencies. In a large student sample, Stober
(1998) found Cronbach's alphas of .87 (CM), .78 (PS), .88 (PE), .81 (PC), .73
(D), and .86 (O).
VALIDITY: Convergent: The PSWQ has demonstrated high convergent
correlations with Bums' (1980) Perfectionism Scale (Frost et 01., 1990), with
Hewitt and Flett's (l991) Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Flett et 01.,
1995; Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia, & Neubauer, 1993) and with the
Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, & Gray, 1998).
Moreover, it has been able to predict negative reactions during athletic
competition (Frost & Henderson, 1991) and poor writing perfonnance in students
(Frost & Marten, 1990). Further, it has shown substantial correlations with various
measures related to poor mental health such as obsessive compulsive symptoms
(Rheaume, Freeston, Dugas, Letarte, & Ladouceur, 1995), depression (Lynd-
Stevenson & Hearne, 1999), suicidal preoccupations (Adkins & Parker, 1996),
insomnia (Lundh, Broman, Hetta, & Saboonchi, 1994), eating problems (Bastiani,
Rao, Weltzin, & Kaye, 1995), trait anxiety (Juster, Heimberg, Frost. Holt, Mattia,
& Faccenda, 1996), preoccupation (Stober, 1998), and worry (Stober &
Joormann, in press).
LOCATION: Frost, R.O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The
dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14,449-468.
COMMENT: The FMPS is a reliable and valid multidimensional measure of
perfectionism. Critical comments concern mainly its factorial validity (Rheaume
312 Personality and Inidvidual Differences
et al., 1995). A recent analysis (Stober, 1998) found that previous factor analyses
of the FMPS suffered from overextraction of factors. However, when the 35
FMPS items were subsumed to four (instead of six) factorslsubscales - namely
Concern over Mistakes and Doubts (CMD; 13 items), Parental Expectations and
Criticism (PEC; 9 items), Personal Standards (PS; 7 items), and Organization (0;
6 items) - factorial validity improved considerably.
REFERENCES:
Adkins, K.K., & Parker, W.O. (1996). Perfectionism and suicidal preoccupation.
Journal of Personality, 64, 529-543.
Bastiani, A.M., Rao, R., Weltzin,T., & Kaye, W.H. (1995). Perfectionism in
anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 147-
152.
Bums, D.O. (1980, November). The perfectionist's script for self-defeat.
Psychology Today, pp. 34-52.
Flett, G.L., Hewitt, P.L., Blankstein, K.R., & Gray, L. (1998). Psychological
distress and the frequency of perfectionistic thinking. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1363-1381.
Flett, G.L., Sawatzky, D.L., & Hewitt, P.L. (1995). Dimensions of perfectionism
and goal commitment: A further comparison of two perfectionism
measures. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 17,
111-124.
Frost, R.O., Heimberg, R.G., Holt, C.S., Mattia, J.I., & Neubauer, A.L. (1993). A
comparison of two measures of perfectionism. Personality and Individual
Differences, 14, 119-126.
Frost, R.O., & Henderson, KJ. (1991). Perfectionism and reactions to athletic
competition. Journal ofSport and Exercise Psychology, 13, 323-335.
Frost, R.O., Lahart, C.M., & Rosenblate, R. (1991). The development of
perfectionism: A study of daughters and their parents. Cognitive Therapy
Personality and Indivdual Differences 313
and Research, 15, 469-489.
Frost, R.O., & Marten, P.A. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14,559-572.
Frost, R.O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of
perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14,449-468.
Hewitt, P.L., & Flett, G.L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts:
Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.
Juster, H.R., Heimberg, R.G., Frost, R.O., Holt, C.S., Mattia, J.I., & Faccenda, K.
(1996). Social phobia and perfectionism. Personality and Individual
Differences, 21, 403-410.
Lundh, L-G., Broman, J-E., Hetta, J., & Saboonchi, F. (1994). Perfectionism and
insomnia. Scandinavian Journal ~r Behaviour Therapy, 23, 3-18.
Lynd-Stevenson, R.M., & Hearne, C.M. (1999). Perfectionism and depressive
affect: The pros and cons of being a perfectionist. Personality and
Individual Differences, 26, 549-562.
Parker, W.O., & Stumpf, H. (1995). An examination of the Multidimensional
Perfectionism Scale with a sample of academically talented children.
Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 13,372-383.
Rheaume, J., Freeston, M.H., Dugas. MJ . Letarte, H., & Ladouceur, R. (1995).
Perfectionism, responsibility, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 785-794.
Stober, J. (1998). The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale: More perfect
with four (instead of six) dimensions. Personality and Individual
Differences. 24, 481-491.
314 Personality and Inidvidual Differences

Stober, J., & Joonnann, J. (in press). Worry, procrastination, and perfectionism:
Differentiating amount of worry, pathological worry, anxiety, and
depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
REVIEWER: Joachim Stober, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg,
Department of Educational Psychology, Franckesche Stiftungen, Haus S, D-06099
Halle, Saale, Gennany. E-mail: stoeber@paedagogik.uni-halle.de

3.17: FUNDAMENTAL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS ORIENTATION-BEHAVIOUR

(FIRO-B).
AUTHOR: Schutz.

VARIABLES: Three categories of interaction relating to inclusion, control and

affection. Each category combines 'expressed' and 'wanted' measures.

DESCRIPTION: The European English Edition of the FIRO-B consists of S4 items

that load onto the three areas of inclusion, control and affection. Inclusion refers
to being involved with others, Control describes an individual's behaviour in
relation to responsibility, power, influence and decision-making, and Affection
describes an individual's behaviour in fonning close, personal or more intimate
relationships with others. In each of these three areas, the FIRO-B gives an
'expressed' measure (the extent to which the individual will initiate the
behaviour) and a 'wanted' measure (the extent to which the individual wants to
receive the behaviour from others). This provides the researcher with six scales of
nine items. All items score on a six-point scale: 24 of the items are phrased so that
responses range from (I) Nobody to (6) Most people, the remaining 30 items
range from (I) Never to (6) Usually. In this way, FIRO-B measures both the
intensity and frequency of interactive needs and wants.