The Effects of Perfectionism and Fear of Failure on Performance in High School Students

Mobile phone is among the modern communication technologies, i.e., a key element of individuals’ daily lives. However, despite its numerous benefits to humans, its sometimes–harmful use can present devastating effects. A negative consequence of excessive mobile phone use is Mobile Phone Addiction (MPA). MPA is a kind of addictive behavior; the lack of control in using this technology by students can harm various aspects of their personal and educational lives. There exists a large number of smartphone users globally. These devices provide influence and popularity among students due to their diverse attractiveness. Thus, it is necessary to study and manage the use of mobile phones among students to prevent its negative consequences. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effects of the dimensions of perfectionism and fear of failure on performance with MPA scores of high school students in public model schools.

This was a cross–sectional and correlational–descriptive study. The statistical population of this study included all public model students of the second period of high school in Meshginshahr City, Iran, in 2019. Of them, 200 subjects were selected as a sample by the random cluster sampling method. Accordingly, after obtaining the necessary permissions and identifying the target schools, the researchers considered two schools (one boys’ school & one girls' school). Next, one grade was selected from each school. Finally, among the students of each level of education, given the estimated sample size, the required students were randomly selected. To collect the required data, the Perfectionism Questionnaire (Terry–Short et al, 1995), the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory (Conroy et al., 2002), and the Mobile Phone Addiction Questionnaire (Savari, 2014) were used. The inclusion criteria of the study were students of public model schools, mobile phone access, and providing consent to participate in research. The exclusion criteria of the study included withdrawing from the study, students without a mobile phone, and dropping out or being expelled from school during the study. To analyze the obtained data, descriptive statistics (mean & standard deviation), and inferential statistics, including Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were performed in SPSS version 21 software at the significance level of 0.05.

The current study findings indicated that positive perfectionism had a negative and significant relationship with MPA (p=0.007, r=–0.191). However, the relationship between negative perfectionism and MPA was not significant (p=0/688, r=0.029). Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between fear of failure and MPA (p=0.011, r=0.180). Besides, the results of regression analysis revealed that only fear of failure (β=0.203; p=0.004) and positive perfectionism (β=–0.212, p=0.002) could predict the score of MPA.

Based on the collected findings, fear of failure in performance can increase the perceived pressure of students in public model schools; accordingly, it predisposes them to addictive behaviors, like MPA. Moreover, adopting rational perfectionist criteria, i.e., appropriate to students' abilities can reduce the odds of their tendency to avoid addictive behaviors by reducing their stress and tension.