his study examined associations between university students’ subjective vitality, perfectionism subtypes, basic psychological need satisfaction, and self-compassion. The study tested whether differences in vitality across perfectionism groups could be explained by self-compassion and the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs.
A total of 166 students from Lithuanian universities completed an online questionnaire. Measures included the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, the Subjective Vitality Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, and the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale. Cluster analysis identified adaptive perfectionist, maladaptive perfectionist, and non-perfectionist profiles among the participants. Data were analyzed by using Pearson correlation, ANOVA, and parallel mediation analysis.
Results showed significant group differences across vitality, self-compassion, and all three basic psychological needs. Adaptive perfectionists reported the highest vitality, need satisfaction, and self-compassion. Maladaptive perfectionists reported significantly lower scores compared to adaptive perfectionists on all variables. Non-perfectionists showed lower basic psychological need satisfaction and self-compassion than adaptive perfectionists, except for vitality – it did not differ between the two groups. No differences were found between maladaptive perfectionists and non-perfectionists.
Mediation analysis showed that self-compassion, competence need satisfaction, and relatedness (only for maladaptive perfectionism) need satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between perfectionism and vitality. The findings suggest that adaptive perfectionism is linked to higher vitality through greater self-compassion and stronger satisfaction of competence and relatedness needs.
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