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Perfectionism, Loneliness and Life Satisfaction in Engineering Students

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Journal of Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2012

Perfectionism, Loneliness and Life Satisfaction in Engineering

Students
Syeda Fatima Hasnain and Iram Fatima*, Ph.D
University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

This research intended to explore the relationship of socially-

prescribed perfectionism, self-oriented perfectionism and
loneliness with students’ life satisfaction. The sample
comprised of 143 male students (M age= 21.43, SD= 1.03)
from the top five departments of University of Engineering and
Technology, Lahore which were selected owing to their
ranking based on merit. Assessment measures included the
Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale Life (Frost,
Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990), the UCLA Loneliness
Scale-Version 3 (Russel, 1996), the Brief Multidimensional
Student Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner, 1997) and a
demographic questionnaire. Results of the hierarchical
regression analysis showed that the more the students were
self-oriented perfectionists the more they were satisfied with
their life. However socially-prescribed perfectionism was not
related to life satisfaction of the students. The results were
same for both groups of students who felt more and less lonely.
Key words: perfectionism, loneliness, life satisfaction

Students are regularly inundated with expectations and demands for

high performance throughout their academic life (Mann, 2004).
Academic overload, constant pressure to succeed, competition with peers
or siblings and an anticipation to share financial burden also sprouts
concerns about the future in them. While playing their roles some
students focus on learning and improvement as a demand and
requirement placed by self while others are more interested in impressing
others or in complying with the roles and standards ascribed by others
(Fletcher, Shim, & Wang, 2012). In such a scenario they face complex
challenges in academic, social and emotional adjustment (Chickering &
Reisser, 1993). Thus, it is worth noticing to explore the shade and
influence of self suggested and socially-prescribed demands on an

*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Iram Fatima,

Assistant Professor Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected]
34 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

individual's life in terms of perfectionism.

From psychological standpoint, the overly daunted concern for
demands and expectations, striving for perfect, unexceptionable and rigid
adherence to extremely high standards in performance with a tendency to
assess behavior in a critical manner is termed as perfectionism (Burns,
1980; Hollender, 1978). Perfectionism in literature has been described as
an irrational belief (Biase, 1999; Ellis, 2002, 1962) that some people may
have toward themselves and their surrounding environment. However,
perfectionism is often accepted perhaps encouraged in the field of study
outside of clinical and personality psychology because of the perception
that perfectionism offers significant accomplishments and rewards in
domains such as academics, science, sports, commerce, trade and
industry etc (Slade & Owens, 1998).
Initially, perfectionism was theorized as a uni-dimensional construct
(Burns, 1980). Moreover, particular focus has been made on the negative
correlates of perfectionism. Perfectionism in one-dimensional term was
found to be associated with negative psychological outcomes such as low
self-esteem (Ashby & Rice, 2002), lower satisfaction with life (Ellis,
2002), depression (Enns & Cox, 2002; Hewitt & Flett, 1993), anxiety
(Flett, Hewitt, Endler & Tassone, 1995), stress (Hewitt & Flett, 1993;
Mitchelson & Burns, 1998), procrastination (Burns, Dittmann, Nguyen,
& Mitchelson, 2000; Fee & Tangney, 2000) and obsessive-compulsive
symptoms (Frost & Steketee, 1997). However, dissenting views and
recent research which term perfectionism as a multidimensional concept
(Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990; Hewitt & Flett, 1991),
suggest that it may contain both adaptive and maladaptive features
(Bieling, Israeli, & Antony, 2004). The multidimensional construct
encompass both intra-individual and interpersonal components. Frost et
al. (1990) conceptualized perfectionism under six dimensions and also
grouped them as self-oriented perfectionism and socially-prescribed
perfectionism. Self-oriented perfectionism involved requirements for the
self to be perfect and socially-prescribed perfectionism was about
perceptions that others require the self to be perfect, former being
maladaptive form resulting in emotional distress, and later as an adaptive
form that is comparatively benign (Bieling et al., 2004). The present
research adopts the approach that distinguishes between self-oriented and
socially-prescribed perfectionism.
In connection with the multidimensional approach of perfectionism
Flett, Hewitt, and De Rosa (1996) have reported that individuals with
high level of socially-prescribed perfectionism would be highly sensitive
PERFECTIONISM, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION 35

to feedback from the social environment that is also associated with

social retiring, shyness and loneliness (Arslan, Hamarta, Ure, & Ozyesil,
2010; Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia, & Neubauer, 1993). Similarly,
Chang, Sanna, Chang, and Bodem (2008) observed that socially-
prescribed perfectionism predicted both depressive and anxious
symptoms in students. On contrary, self-oriented perfectionism has been
associated with both positive and negative symptoms features, processes,
and consequences (Hewitt & Flett, 2004). In this regard, Yang and
Stoeber (2010) concluded from their study that the self-oriented
perfectionists got satisfied when they achieved desired outcomes and
dissatisfied with the undesired outcomes while the socially-prescribed
perfectionists were dissatisfied irrespective of outcome. Generally, self-
oriented perfectionism has been found to be more adaptive as compared
to socially-prescribed perfectionism. Stoeber and Stoeber (2009); Capan
(2010) and Ashby and Rice (2002) observed that self-oriented
perfectionism was associated with positive evaluation of life and life
satisfaction (Lee, Schoppe, & Kamp, 2012; Gaudreau & Filion, 2012)
while socially-prescribed perfectionism was related to negative
evaluation of life in students.
From the review of given researches about perfectionism it can be
speculated that with the personal or social demands and expectations,
students may not want to or cannot maintain interpersonal relations. In
such a case one may experience social isolation that is also termed as
loneliness (Civitci & Civitci, 2009). Loneliness is a feeling of having
limited social relationships and of being isolated from others (Peplau &
Perlman, 1982). It is accepted as one of the major problems among
children and adolescents (Demir & ve Tarhan, 2001). It has been reported
to be positively related to state and trait anxiety (Ginter, Glauser, &
Richmond, 1994;), social anxiety (Caplan, 2007); depression (e.g. Beck,
1967; Lasgaard, Goossens, & Elklit, 2011), happiness (Peplau &
Perlman, 1982), and subjective well-being (Akhunlar, 2010; Mellor,
Stokes, Firth, Hayashi, & Cummins, 2008; Salimi, 2011).
Studies conducted in Pakistan also report the maladaptive nature of
loneliness. Hafeez (2009) identified loneliness and financial issues as the
causes of stress and depression in retired teachers. Tariq and Masood
(2011) also reported social competence to be negatively correlated with
loneliness in adolescents. Similarly, Parveen (2010) also found shyness to
be a positive correlate of loneliness in university students.
Recent studies suggest that perfectionism and loneliness commonly
co-occur (Arslan et al., 2010; Chang & Sanna, 2012; Chang et al., 2008;
36 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

Flett et al., 1996). Although a few researches have been conducted but
they indicate that loneliness moderates the relationship between
perfectionism and wellbeing. Chang et al. (2008) reported that interaction
between perfectionism and loneliness influenced the prediction of
depressive and anxious symptoms. They found that perfectionism along
with loneliness was more strongly related to high level of depression and
anxiety than considered alone.
In the light of above mentioned literature the current study was aimed
at exploring the role of two dimensions of perfectionism for cognitive
evaluation of life in engineering students. Following hypotheses were
purported: (a) Students who were self-oriented perfectionists were likely
to have high level of life satisfaction whereas students who were socially-
prescribed perfectionists were likely to have low level of life satisfaction.
(b) There was likely to be a significant negative relationship between
loneliness and life satisfaction. (c) The relationship between self-oriented
perfectionism and life satisfaction would be less strong in students with
more feelings of loneliness than in students with less feelings of
loneliness. (d) The negative relationship between socially prescribed
perfectionism and life satisfaction would be stronger in students with
more feelings of loneliness than in students with less feelings of
loneliness. Finally, these relationships should persist after taking into
account students’ age, status as a day scholar or hostel student, family
income, number of siblings, family system and parents’ education.

Method
Participants
The sample comprised of 143, final year, male students (M age =
21.43, SD = 1.03) of BSc from the top five departments of University of
Engineering and Technology, Lahore selected owing to their ranking
based on merit. Students were recruited from department of electrical
engineering (n = 37), department of mechanical engineering (n = 29),
department of industrial and manufacturing engineering (n = 31),
department of petroleum & gas engineering (n = 19), and department of
chemical engineering (n = 27). Only students from intact families were
included as being a child from single parent families could itself serve as
a factor of loneliness.
PERFECTIONISM, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION 37

Assessment Measures
Demographic information questionnaire. It consisted of 7
statements assessing the demographic variables including information
about age, monthly family income, family system, number of siblings and
parents' education.

Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS). FMPS (Frost

et al., 1990) was used to measure two types of perfectionism. It was a 35
item questionnaire in which participants marked their responses on a 5-
point scale (1-5) ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Self-
oriented perfectionism subscale included items regarding concern over
mistakes, personal standards, and doubts about actions (20 items, e.g. ‘‘I
should be upset if I make a mistake; I set higher goals for myself than
most people; I usually have doubts about the simple everyday things I
do’’, α = .75) , while socially-prescribed perfectionism subscale was
comprised of items with reference to parental expectations and parental
criticism(15 items, , e.g. ‘‘My parents set very high standards for me; my
parents never tried to understand my mistakes’’, α = .59) . High score
meant high level of perfectionism.

University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-

Version 3). Subjective feelings of general loneliness were assessed with
Russel’s (1996) UCLA loneliness scale (20 items, e.g., ‘‘How often do
you feel that there is no one you can turn to?’’; α=.85, 1=never, 4=often).
The minimum and maximum score was 1 and 80 respectively. The higher
scores on the UCLA scale indicated greater loneliness.

Brief Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (MDSLS).

MDSLS (Huebner, 1997) was used to measure students' satisfaction with
family, friends, school/college, self, living environment, and overall life
(e.g., ‘‘How often do you feel that there is no one you can turn to?’’ α=
.60). It was a 6 item scale with seven response options e.g., (1 =
Terrible); (2 = Unhappy); (3 = Mostly dissatisfied); (4 = Mixed -about
equally satisfied and dissatisfied); (5= Mostly satisfied); (6 = Pleased);
and (7 = Delighted). Higher scores thus indicate higher levels of life
satisfaction throughout the scale.

Procedure
The heads of five departments were contacted for permission to collect
data from their final year students of BSc. In the two departments after
38 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

permission, the researcher was permitted to collect data from students in

the end of ongoing class in the presence of respective class teachers. In
the remaining departments the researcher was not allowed to meet the
students personally. Therefore, with the consent of their heads’ the class
representatives got the questionnaires filled by the students and return the
filled questionnaires within a period of a week. Students who volunteered
to participate in research and met the inclusion criteria were included in
the sample. All these participants were informed about nature of the
research through written consent form. Insurance was sought of the firm
privacy regarding the results and information that would not be used for
another purpose than the research. A total of two hundred and fifty
questionnaires were delivered to the participants and 143 questionnaires
were received in the complete form. The overall response rate of the
participants was 69%.

Results
A description of the sample and study variables is given in table 1.

Table 1
Descriptives of Study Variables (N=143)
Variables M SD
Age 21.43 1.03
Father's education (in years) 14.15 3.49
Mother's education (in years) 10.97 5.15
Total number of siblings 3.71 2.20
Monthly income (PKR) 62,748 45,249
Student's Status (%)
Day Scholar 48.3
Hostel Students 51.7
Family System (%)
Nuclear 67.1
Joint 32.9
Socially-prescribed perfectionism 29.10 4.75
Self-oriented perfectionism 61.80 9.34
Loneliness 43.76 8.76
Student's life satisfaction 29.81 4.80

Pearson product moment correlations were computed to assess the

relationship of demographic variables, socially-prescribed perfectionism,
self-oriented perfectionism and loneliness with students' life satisfaction.
 PERFECTIONISM, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION 39

Table 2
Correlations of Study Variables (N = 143)
Variables 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Age .04 - .06 - .05 .08 .00 -.00 .07 .12 .13 - .05
Student's status - .08 - .06 -.20* .16 .11 - .09 .16 .11 - .09
Monthly income - - .37** .27** .07 -.08 .11 - .03 - .02 - .20*
Father's education - - - -.55** -.27** -.24** - .07 - .05 - .15 - .18*
Mother's education - - - - -.28** -.32** - .05 - .04 - .11 - .15
Number of siblings - - - - - .28** .10 .10 .10 - .14
Family system - - - - - - .19* .06 .05 .08
Socially-prescribed - - - - - - - .42** .17* - .11
perfectionism
Self-oriented - - - - - - - - .27** .42**
perfectionism
Loneliness - - - - - - - - - - .32**
Student's life - - - - - - - - - -
satisfaction
Note. For student's status; 1=day scholar and 2=hostel students; family system;
1=nuclear and 2 =joint.
*p < .05, **p < .01

As shown in table 2, self-oriented perfectionism was positively

related to student's life satisfaction while no significant correlation was
found between socially-prescribed perfectionism and student's life
satisfaction. Moreover, high level of loneliness was associated with low
level of student's life satisfaction. This table further illustrates that
students with high scores on socially-prescribed and self-oriented
perfectionism obtained high scores on loneliness.
The correlation results for demographic variables revealed that age
and number of siblings were not associated with student's life
satisfaction. Similarly, there were no differences in life satisfaction of
day scholars and hostel students. It was also observed that students whose
fathers were more educated and who had better family income had lower
level of life satisfaction. However, no significant relationship was
observed between mother's education and student's life satisfaction. The
results also reflected that high level of socially-prescribed perfectionism
was observed in the students who were from joint families than in the
students who were from nuclear families.
To clarify the relationship among possible predictors and criterion
variables further, a hierarchical regression analyses was conducted. As
among the demographics only income and father's education were
significantly correlated with student's life satisfaction, these variables
were entered in the first block. Socially-prescribed perfectionism, self-
40 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

oriented perfectionism and loneliness were entered in second block.

Interaction terms of perfectionism subscales (socially-prescribed and self-
oriented) with loneliness were entered in the third block. Interaction
terms were obtained by multiplying centered loneliness with centered
perfectionism scores. Enter method was used for all the blocks. β values
for variables and interaction terms were inferred from the second and
final block respectively.

Table 3
Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting
Student's Life Satisfaction (N = 143)
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
Predictors β β β
Father's education - .14 - .07 - .86
Income - .15 - .16 - .09
Socially-prescribed perfectionism - .08 - .08
Self-oriented perfectionism .19* .19*
Loneliness - .37*** - .57
Loneliness X Socially-prescribed
perfectionism - .21
Loneliness X Self-oriented perfectionism .72
∆R2 .06* .13*** .00
*p < .05, ***p < .001.

Table 3 presents the results of regression analysis for student's life

satisfaction as criterion variable. Overall the model explained 19%
variance in life satisfaction. Demographics in Block 1 explained 6%
variance in life satisfaction. In this block none of the variables predicted
life satisfaction. When socially- prescribed perfectionism, self-oriented
perfectionism and loneliness were added into the model in block 2,
regression explained additional 13% variance in life satisfaction. In this
block self-oriented perfectionism positively predicted life satisfaction
whereas loneliness negatively predicted life satisfaction. However,
socially-prescribed perfectionism did not predict life satisfaction.
When interaction terms were included in block 3 along with the
variables added in block 2, the regression further explained 1% variance
in life satisfaction. The interaction terms; Loneliness X Socially-
prescribed Perfectionism and Loneliness X Self-oriented Perfectionism
were non-significant. Thus, the results indicated that loneliness did not
moderate the relationship between the two facets of perfectionism and
student's life satisfaction.
PERFECTIONISM, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION 41

Overall results show that the students with high self-oriented

perfectionism were satisfied with their lives while socially-prescribed
perfectionism was not related to their life satisfaction. These relationships
was same for both the students having high level of loneliness and those
having low level of loneliness as represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Figural representation of results for main variables in the study

Note. The straight line represents significant relationship.

Discussion
This study was conducted to understand how two modes of
perfectionism along with loneliness relate with life satisfaction of
students. It was expected that self-oriented perfectionism would be
adaptive in terms of positive evaluation of one’s life and socially-
prescribed perfectionism would be maladaptive in terms of negative
evaluation of one’s life in engineering students.
Primarily it was hypothesized that the students with high self-oriented
perfectionism were likely to have high level of life satisfaction. In
accordance with this assumption, the results of zero order correlations
revealed that self-oriented perfectionists were satisfied with their lives. In
addition, self-oriented perfectionism also positively predicted life
satisfaction. The results were consistent with the work of Lee et al.,
(2012); Gaudreau and Filion (2012); Capan (2010); Stoeber and Stoeber
(2009); and Yang and Stoeber (2010) who maintained that self-oriented
42 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

perfectionism was associated with higher life satisfaction. Since self-

oriented perfectionism is considered an adaptive form of perfectionism
that is comparatively harmless (Beling et al., 2004) thus it represents
positive consequences (Stoeber & Otto, 2006). Such people can
acknowledge their personal limits and situational confines and are able to
set challenging yet reasonable goals allowing them to excel and enjoy
their work (Saboonchi & Lundh, 1997) in agreement with their capacity
and increasing their life satisfaction.
Considering the research of Capan (2010) and Ashby and Rice (2002)
, it was anticipated that the students with high level of socially-prescribed
perfectionism were likely to have low level of life satisfaction. However,
in the present study, the results of correlation and regression analysis
suggested that socially-prescribed perfectionism neither correlated nor
predicted life satisfaction. Despite this the direction of correlation and
regression were in anticipated direction. A possible explanation for these
non-significant results is that the reliability of the socially-prescribed
perfectionism scale in this study was not satisfactory, that could give
reliably significant results. Although these results could not validate
socially-prescribed perfectionism as a maladaptive form of perfectionism,
yet, this perfectionism did not turn out to be an adaptive form either.
These results are in line with the study of Flett et al. (1996) and Yang and
Stoeber (2009) and the theory in which socially-prescribed perfectionism
is described as a maladaptive form (Bieling et al., 2004) whereas self-
oriented perfectionism is regarded as an adaptive form (Hewitt & Flett,
2004). It is also consistent with research on human motivation and self
determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000) which maintains that social
environments that exert certain demands on individuals can oppose and
defeat the efforts, plans, or ambitions of competence, autonomy, and
social connectedness required to ensure the development and
maintenance of optimal functioning and wellbeing (Deci & Ryan, 2002).
Other than this, the results signified that loneliness was negatively
correlated with life satisfaction in the students as predicted. It also came
to be a predictor of life satisfaction in line with Akhunlar (2010), Mellor
et al., (2011) and Salimi (2011). Loneliness seems to have a clear
association with lower level of life satisfaction as it is an unpleasant
subjective feeling and a psychological state which involves an
inconsistency between the existing social relationships and desirable
social relationships of a person (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). Thus, it can be
inferred that loneliness itself is a state of dissatisfaction that arises when
one perceives deficiency regarding one's quality and quantity of
PERFECTIONISM, LONELINESS AND LIFE SATISFACTION 43

interpersonal relationships (Nummela, Seppanen, & Uutela, 2011), and as

a result impinges on overall life satisfaction.
It was also hypothesized loneliness would moderate the relationship
between perfectionism and life satisfaction owing to the view that an
interaction of perfectionism and loneliness might affect an individual's
wellbeing (Chang et al., 2008) and was associated with low level of life
satisfaction. However, the results revealed that loneliness did not
moderate the relationship between the two facets of perfectionism and
students’ life satisfaction indicating that perfectionism predicts life
satisfaction similarly in both high and low loneliness groups. It is also
important to note that in the study of Chang et al. (2008) the outcomes of
interaction between perfectionism and loneliness included negative
psychological outcomes, such as depressive and anxious symptoms.
However, in the present study, the criterion variable was life satisfaction.
So it may be inferred that perfectionism along with loneliness produces
timely negative outcomes but does not affect overall evaluations of one's
life. It also points to the distinction between trait and state aspects of
wellbeing well elaborated in literature (Eid & Diener, 2004; Schimmack
& Lucas, 2007). It may also be assumed that through loneliness,
perfectionists may be able to limit the anxiety they experience in social
interactions and may be able to spare time to work on their goals by
limiting social contacts thus not influencing life satisfaction in a negative
way.
Although this research provides support for both perfectionism and
loneliness in determining student's life satisfaction but some limitations
should be acknowledged to be worked upon in future research. Since
correlational research design was used in the study, thus, it was difficult
to examine the causal direction of the effects in present reserach. Future
resreach may adopt longitudinal or experimental research design that can
track these variables over time in different conditions where causal
direction can be clarified. With the help of the outcomes of the study,
consideration should be given to replace perfectionism with excellence
and reduce loneliness in our society by repairing the social networks that
may contribute towards satisfaction with life. The results can encourage
parents and teachers to probe excellence in student's work than expecting
perfectionism from them leading towards lower life satisfaction.
44 HASNAIN AND FATIMA

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