The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale revisited: More perfect with four (instead of six) dimensions

Abstract

The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990) provides six subscales for a multidimensional assessment of perfectionism: Concern over Mistakes (CM), Personal Standards (PS), Parental Expectations (PE), Parental Criticism (PC), Doubts about actions (D), and Organization (O). Despite its increasing popularity in personality and clinical research, the FMPS has also drawn some criticism for its factorial instability across samples. The present article argues that this instability may be due to an overextraction of components. Whereas all previous analyses presented six-factor solutions for the FMPS items, a reanalysis with Horn's parallel analysis suggested only four or five underlying factors. To investigate the nature of these factors, item responses from N = 243 participants were subjected to principal component analysis. Again, parallel analysis retained only four components. Varimax rotation replicated PS and O as separate factors, whereas combining CM with D as well as PE with PC. Consequently, the present article suggests a reduction to four (instead of six) FMPS subscales. Differential correlations with anxiety, depression, parental representations and action tendencies underscore the advantage of this solution