The Relationship Between Perfectionism and Perceived Stress among Undergraduates: The Role of Mindsets

Abstract

In today’s life, almost every corners of the globe, there is a phenomenon of growing stress among the undergraduates, in this aspect Malaysia is no exception. The high level of perceived stress will have an adverse effect on every aspect of students’ life. Previous studies have well-established the relationship between perfectionism and stress. Perfectionism is associated with mindset, meanwhile, mindset may also be capable of changing in from the state of response to stress, which indicates a potential mediating role of mindsets. Therefore, this study closely examined the relationship between the multidimensional perspective of perfectionism, perceived stress, and mindsets; mediation role of mindsets between perfectionism and perceived stress among the undergraduates from two public universities in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 410 participants were involved in the current study. Data were analyzed through SPSS. Spearman correlation analysis indicates maladaptive perfectionism was significantly related to lower growth mindset and higher perceived stress, while adaptive perfectionism is related to higher growth mindset, and not significantly associated with perceived stress. Moreover, mediation analysis was done through PROCESS Macro in SPSS. It was inferred that the suppressing effect was found between adaptive perfectionism and perceived stress through growth mindset, which can be seen as mediation effect in a broad sense. Thus, it can be concluded that maladaptive perfectionists will suffer more stress and possess lower growth mindset, on the other hand, adaptive perfectionists have more growth mindset and lower perceived stress.