Relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and aggressive behaviour during late childhood

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and aggressiveness according to their components: physiological-emotional (anger), motor (physical and verbal aggression), and cognitive (hostility). The sample included 776 children from the 3rd to 6th year of Primary School (M = 9.72 years; SD = 1.14). The Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale and the Aggression Questionnaire were used to assess, respectively, SPP and components of aggressive behaviour: Anger, Hostility, Physical and Verbal Aggression. The mean difference analysis showed that students with high levels of SPP scored significantly higher on all 4 sub-scales of Aggression Questionnaire, compared with their peers with lower levels of SPP. Moderate effect sizes were obtained for all cases, except for Hostility, where the magnitude of the differences was small. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the 4 dimensions of Aggression Questionnaire predicted significantly and positively high scores on SPP, with the OR ranging from 1.07 to 1.12. The results showed that there is a close relationship between the SPP and manifestations of aggression.