Relationship between Parental Perfectionism and Children's Perfectionism and Academic Achievement in a Sample of Iranian Families

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of parental perfectionism (self-oriented، other-oriented، and socially prescribed) and dimensions of children’s perfectionism and academic achievement in a sample of Iranian families. Three hundred and forty two high school students (184 girls، 156 boys) from Tehran’s municipal districts 8، 10، 11 and 19 in the academic year 2009-2010، along with their parents (342 fathers، 342 mothers) were included in this study. Students and their parents were asked to complete the Tehran Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (TMPS; Besharat، 2007). The students’ academic score averages were used as an academic achieve- ment criterion. To analyze the data، statistical indexes and methods such as frequency، percentage، mean، standard deviation، and regression have been utilized. The results indicate that parents’ perfectionism was a pre-dictor of changes in children’s perfectionism. Also، maternal other-oriented perfectionism predicted changes in children''s academic achievement.