Mindsets and Perfectionism in College Students

This study was designed to examine the relationship between mindsets and perfectionism as well as how perfectionist types differ on measures of mindset in college and graduate students between 18 and 25 years of age. Results indicate that mindsets are related to perfectionism. In the total sample (N = 282), discrepancy was negatively related to intelligence growth mindsets (r = -.18). Amongst perfectionists (n = 187), discrepancy was positively related to person fixed mindsets (r = .14) and negatively related to intelligence growth mindsets (r = -.24), whereas high standards were negatively related to intelligence growth mindsets (r = -.15). Adaptive perfectionists had higher scores on measures of intelligence growth mindsets than maladaptive perfectionists (d = 0.47) and lower scores on measures of person fixed mindsets than non-perfectionists (d = 0.44). These findings suggest that mindsets are related to perfectionism in college students; however, the results suggest that college students may experience these relationships in a different way than students outside of higher education.