a b s t r a c t
The anxious rearing model of perfectionism development proposes
that children develop perfectionism in response to parental worry
about their children being imperfect and parental behaviors such
as overprotection from mistakes and focus on the negative consequences
of mistakes. In the current study, perfectionistic rearing
behaviors were experimentally manipulated during a copy task
in clinically anxious children (n = 42) and non-anxious children
(n = 35). Children were randomized to receive high or non-perfectionistic
rearing behaviors from their parents during the copy task
designed to elicit child perfectionistic behaviors. Results showed
that self-reported self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) was significantly
higher in the anxious group compared with the non-anxious
group. All children showed an increase in observed SOP in response
to high perfectionistic rearing behaviors. Despite this increase in
SOP in the high perfectionistic rearing condition, it was children
in the non-perfectionistic rearing condition that improved significantly
in task accuracy performance. Non-anxious children
declined in task-related striving for perfectionism when they experienced
non-perfectionistic rearing behaviors from their parents.
Anxious children, however, did not show a decline in task-related
striving following non-perfectionistic rearing. Results support the
perfectionistic rearing model and parental perfectionistic behaviors’
impact on children’s observed and self-reported SOP and task
performance.