Research interest focused on perfectionism has grown over the last two decades in the clinical and personality areas, recognizing its potential negative effects, such as sense of failure, indecision, procrastination and shame (González, Ibañez, Rovella, López, & Padilla, 2013). Taking into account the effects of perfectionism on health, a dual conceptualization has been proposed throughout a number of early writings in the clinical literature. For example, Shafran, Cooper, and Fairburn (2002) classified perfectionism as functional vs dysfunctional.
Functional perfectionism is associated with several features, such as the high personal expectation, self-esteem, order, organization, good performance, planning and facing tasks with a high intellectual level (Parker, 2000; Sastre-Riba, 2012), positive attachments (Bieling, Israeli, & Anthony, 2004), and life satisfaction (Bergman, Nyland, & Burns, 2007). Whereas, dysfunctional perfectionism is associated with negative affects like anxiety, depression, social anxiety (Stoeber & Otto, 2006), as well as, eating disorders (Franco-Paredes, Mancilla-Díaz, Vázquez-Arévalo, López-Aguilar, & Alvarez-Rayón, 2005; González et al., 2013).
Scappatura, Arana, Elizathe, and Rutsztein (2011) stated that perfectionism has been associated with unrealistic expectations regarding physical appearance oriented toward extreme thinness, therefore, this construct is considered as an important risk factor and maintenance factor of eating disorders (Fairburn, Cooper, & Shafran, 2003; Franco-Paredes et al., 2005; Lilenfed, Wonderlich, Riso, Crosby, & Mitchell, 2006; Rutsztein, Scappatura, & Murawski, 2014). In addition, a high level of perfectionism after recovery may be considered as an important element for relapse in eating disorders (Bardone-Cone, 2007). In this sense, perfectionism supposes a trans-diagnostic process, as a common risk factor in the etiology and in the maintaining of eating disorders.
Given the importance of perfectionism within the psychology field, different instruments have been developed and used in several researches carried out in the last two decades, including the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990). The FMPS includes 35 items that evaluate six dimensions of perfectionism: Personal Standards, Concerns over Mistakes, Organization, Doubts about Actions, Parental Expectations and Parental Criticism. The internal consistency of the FMPS have been assessed in adult population with Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients ranging from .85 to .93 (Cheng, Chong, & Wong, 1999; Franco, Mancilla-Díaz, Vázquez, Álvarez, & López, 2010; Frost et al., 1990; Gelabert et al., 2011; Parker & Adkins, 1995; Stöber, 1998). Temporal one month stability was also evaluated, in two studies test-retest correlation ranged from .76 (Monteiro et al., 2013) to .82 (Gelabert et al., 2011).
Empirical evaluation of the factorial structure of the FMPS has confirmed the original six factor solution (Gelabert et al. 2011; Parker & Adkins 1995; Purdon, Antony, & Swinson, 1999; Rhéaume, Freeston, Dugas, Letarte, & Ladouceur, 1995; Stöber, 1998). However, three studies reported a five factor solution (Cox, Enns, & Clara, 2002; Cheng et al. 1999; Franco et al., 2010); and finally, four studies identified a four factor solution (Franco, Santoyo, Díaz, & Mancilla-Díaz, in press; Harvey, Pallant & Harvey 2004; Hawkins, Watt, & Sinclair, 2006; Khawaja, & Armstrong, 2005; Stumpf, & Parker, 2000), which can be considered the most parsimonious structure taking into account the fit indexes.
The development and constant updating of questionnaires is an important task in any area of study and it is desirable to have the greater amount of evidence regarding the psychometric properties of this tools. The assessment of the psychometric properties of the questionnaires is a continuous process in which the evidences that confirm or complement existing findings are generated. The questionnaires have allowed the advance of knowledge about the effects of perfectionism on health and behavior. The majority of the studies have examined the psychometric properties of the FMPS in school-aged people, and only two studies have used clinical samples (Cox et al., 2002; Purdon et al., 1999). Also, the reliability has been assessed with Cronbach’s Alpha method, and there is a few evidence about temporal stability of the FMPS (Gelabert et al., 2011; Monteiro et al., 2013). On the other hand, the two studies that have been carried out in Mexico to validate the FMPS revealing that internal consistency for the total score of the scale was adequate (Franco et al., 2010) and the four factors structure was the most parsimonious (Franco et al., in press). Because of this, the purpose of this research was to generate more evidence about psychometric properties of the FMPS, specifically regarding the test-retest reliability, the internal consistency and construct validity in women.
