Abstract
Past studies have reported weak and inconsistent associations between self-compassion and perfectionistic standards (Ferguson et al., 2023). Recent theoretical advances in perfectionism highlighted the need to separate high standards (i.e., excellencism) from perfectionistic standards (Gaudreau, 2019). Recent studies based on the Model of Excellencism and Perfectionism have shown a negative association between perfectionistic standards and self-compassion with samples of university students (Gaudreau et al., 2022; Gaudreau & Schellenberg, 2024; With et al., 2024). Perfection strivers, compared to excellence strivers, are less likely to embrace self-compassion. In this study, our goal was to try to replicate these findings with samples of sports participants. The results of our multiple regression analyses failed to support our hypothesis across two samples of sports participants (Study 1, N = 150; Study 2, N = 340). Consistent with past studies, excellencism was positively but not significantly associated with self-compassion. Contrary to our hypothesis, perfectionism was not significantly associated with self-compassion. Complementary analyses from Study 2 revealed that perfectionism was positively and significantly related to fear of self-compassion. Our findings failed to replicate the results of recent studies performed with university students. Of particular interest, however, perfection strivers expressed concerns about self-compassion as they felt that expressing compassion toward the self makes them feel uneasy, complacent, unproductive, and vulnerable. Self-compassion is associated with desirable mental health outcomes among sports participants (Cormier et al., 2023). Reducing the fear of self-compassion would be essential to increase the intent and use of self-compassion among sports participants pursuing perfection.
