Abstract
The adaptive nature of perfectionism has been the subject of a heated debate among researchers and practitioners. Recently, the Model of Excellencism and Perfectionism (MEP; Gaudreau et al., 2022) was developed to better distinguish between striving for perfection and excellence in achievement-oriented domains, such as sports. This study aimed to differentiate the motivational and affective processes related to perfectionism and excellencism in the context of extracurricular activities (ECA; mainly sports) participation and school over the course of a school year. At Time 1 (October 2023), a sample of 328 high school students (Mage = 15,04, 42% F) completed measures of excellencism and perfectionism (Gaudreau et al., 2022), passion for their ECA (90.9% sports; Marsh et al., 2013) and a host of outcomes related to their ECA. At Time 2 (April 2024), students completed measures of academic functioning. Results of path analyses showed that excellencism was positively related to harmonious passion (HP) for an ECA, which in turn was related to better functioning both in the ECA and the classroom. In contrast, perfectionism was positively related to obsessive passion (OP) for an ECA, which in turn was negatively related to indicators of functioning in the ECA and the classroom. Overall, the results provide support for the tenets of the MEP by showing that perfectionism is not related to indicators of positive functioning above the effects of excellencism, both within the purview of sports and in school.
