Gender and the differential effects of active and passive perfectionism on Mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety (2010)

ABSTRACT In this study gender differences in mathematics anxiety and writing anxiety as a function of high school students' levels of active and passive perfectionism are examined. Results for 307 year 10 students revealed main effects for gender and passive perfectionism with respect to mathematics anxiety and to writing anxiety. Girls had higher mathematics anxiety than boys. Students with higher levels of passive perfectionism had higher mathematics anxiety and higher writing anxiety than students with lower levels of passive perfectionism. An interaction between gender and active perfectionism showed that among girls, mathematics anxiety decreased as a function of increased active perfectionism. This interaction effect was not present for writing anxiety. This latter finding challenges previous conclusions that perfectionism is inherently, and exclusively, maladaptive. KEYWORDS: passive perfectionism, active perfectionism, mathematics anxiety, writing anxiety. Many students experience affective reactions to particular school content that is severe enough to interfere with academic functioning (Newbegin & Owens, 1996; Seipp, 1991; Van Ameringen, Mancini, & Farvolden, 2003; Zeidner, 1991). Several studies have found that girls tend to experience greater levels of academic-related anxieties than do boys (e.g., Balozlu & Kocak, 2006; Bhansali & Trivendi, 2008; Ma & Xu, 2004; Otomo, 1998). It is important to understand why some students experience such debilitating anxiety at school, and to identify factors that may be particular targets for intervention into this phenomenon, in order to help students to maximize their school achievement. One factor that has been proposed to explain why some people experience heightened levels of anxiety is perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991; Kawamura, Hunt, Frost, & DiBartolo, 2001; Saboonchi & Lundh, 1997; Tsui & Mozzocco, 2007). In educational research, perfectionism has been linked to mathematicsrelated anxieties (Tsui & Mozzocco, 2007), including statistics anxiety (Onwuegbuzie & Daley, 1999), however research on effects of perfectionism on anxiety in non-science subjects, such as language or literary studies involving writing skills is scant (but see Onwuegbuzie, 1998). Contrary to traditional conceptualisations of perfectionism (e.g., Burns, 1980; Hewitt & Flett, 1991), where perfectionism has been viewed exclusively as a maladaptive characteristic, Adkins and Parker (1996) suggested that perfectionism is not always maladaptive. Adkins and Parker argued that it is only one form of perfectionism which they termed 'passive' perfectionism, that is maladaptive, while a second form, 'active' perfectionism, can in fact be adaptive. To this author's knowledge, idea that perfectionism can be adaptive has not been empirically tested within discipline of educational psychology. The contribution of current paper is to assess whether active form of perfectionism can temper effects of debilitating school-related anxieties. Anxiety and Academic Functioning Beck (1985) defined anxiety as the unpleasant feeling state evoked when fear is stimulated (p. 9). For several decades literature has reported that anxiety towards certain academic subjects - and most notably mathematics - is common among students of all ages. Johnson (1979) estimated that up to 30 % of students experience academic-related anxiety at a level severe enough to debilitate performance; while Richardson and Suinn (1972) reported that over one-third of students attending a University counseling service indicated that their main problem related to mathematics anxiety. Over past half a century, a plethora of correlational studies have reported negative relationships in order of r=-.50 between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance indicators, such as mathematics grades and scores on standardised mathematics tests (e. …