Subjective well-being, achievement striving behavior, and adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism.

Abstract

Past research has unfolded many previously unknown aspects of personality, subjective well-being, and factors that interact among the two. Nonetheless, there remains a surfeit of information yet to be discovered. The current study investigated differences among subjective well-being, achievement striving behavior, and perfectionism. Analyses indicate that those who report high levels of achievement striving tendencies also tend to report higher levels of perfectionistic tendencies toward the self. Furthermore, achievement strivers reported higher levels of happiness and positive affect when compared to their non-achieving counterparts. Likewise, adaptive perfectionists tended to report higher levels of happiness, an essential component of subjective well-being. Results also suggest that maladaptive perfectionists experience higher levels of negative affect. Lastly, a significant disordinal interaction indicates that non-achievement strivers who are also maladaptive perfectionists have low satisfaction with life. Given this finding, those individuals who do not consider themselves achievement strivers but strive to live up to others' expectations may be experiencing cognitive dissonance and in tum doing a disservice to their own mental well-being.