Comparing Two Short Forms of the Hewitt–Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale

Abstract

Hewitt and Flett’s 45-item Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale is a widely used instrument to assess self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. With 45 items, it is not overly lengthy, but there are situations where a short form is useful. Analyzing data from four samples, this article compares two frequently used 15-item short forms of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale—Cox et al.’s and Hewitt et al.’s—by examining to what degree their scores replicate the original version’s correlations with various personality characteristics (e.g., traits, social goals, personal/interpersonal orientations). Regarding self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism, both short forms performed well. Regarding other-oriented perfectionism, however, Cox et al.’s short form (exclusively composed of negatively worded items) performed less well than Hewitt et al.’s (which contains no negatively worded items). It is recommended that researchers use Hewitt et al.’s short form to assess other-oriented perfectionism rather than Cox et al.’s.