Does Perfectionism Moderate the Relationship between Post-Secondary Student Stress and Academic Self-Efficacy, Self-Concept, and Burnout?

Introduction: Self-critical perfectionism and stress have been implicated as risk factors for maladaptive academic outcomes (i.e., decreased academic self-efficacy, decreased academic self-concept, and increased academic burnout). The present study investigated a vulnerability-stress model, testing whether self-critical perfectionism moderates the relationship between stressor severity (academic and interpersonal) and academic outcomes. Exploratory analyses replaced self-critical perfectionism with rigid perfectionism in the model. Method: A sample of 384 post-secondary students (76.8% women, average age: 20.06) completed a cross-sectional survey involving questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Results: Stressor severity (both academic and interpersonal) was negatively associated with academic self-efficacy and academic self-concept, and positively associated with academic burnout, when controlling for perfectionism. Self-critical perfectionism was positively associated with academic burnout, and rigid perfectionism was positively associated with academic self-concept, when controlling for stressor severity. None of the interaction effects were statistically significant, failing to support a vulnerability-stress model. Discussion: Findings suggest that stressor severity (both academic and interpersonal) and self-critical perfectionism are strongly associated with maladaptive academic outcomes and may serve as risk factors for poor academic functioning. The lack of interaction effects suggests a vulnerability-stress model may not explain why perfectionism is associated with maladaptive academic outcomes.