Abstract
This study investigates the functional nature of perfectionism in sport through a person-oriented comparison of healthy and unhealthy perfectionist athletes' experience of burnout symptomatology. A sample of 117 Canadian intercollegiate varsity student-athletes (M age = 21.28 years, SD = 2.05) completed multidimensional measures of sport-based perfectionism (i.e., the Sport Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale-2 [Sport-MPS-2: Gotwals & Dunn, 2009]) and athlete burnout symptomatology (i.e., the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire [ABQ; Raedeke & Smith, 2001]). An iterative cluster analytic protocol conducted upon the participants' mean Sport-MPS-2 subscale scores the revealed that the sample could be represented by four theoretically meaningful clusters: labelled, Parent-Oriented Unhealthy Perfectionists, Doubt-Oriented Unhealthy Perfectionists, Healthy Perfectionists, andNon-Perfectionists. Inter-cluster comparisons of the groups' mean scores across the three ABQ subscales (i.e., reduced accomplishment, sport devaluation, and exhaustion) revealed that healthy perfectionists reported (a) lower levels on all three athlete burnout indices in comparison to both doubt-oriented unhealthy perfectionists and non-perfectionists and (b) lower levels of exhaustion in comparison to parent-oriented unhealthy perfectionists (all ps ? .05). Discussion focuses on (a) the fit between the present findings and perfectionism/burnout theory, (b) directions for future examinations of the functional nature of perfectionism, and (c) the benefits of utilizing a person-oriented approach in perfectionism research.Acknowledgments: This study was supported by a grant awarded to the author by Lakehead University's Senate Research Committee.