Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
A reliability generalization meta-analysis of the child and adolescent perfectionism scale
María Vicent1, María Rubio-Aparicio2, Julio Sánchez-Meca3
1Department of Developmental Psychology and Teaching. University of Alicante, Carretera San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante, Spain.
Background:
Perfectionism is a prevalent disposition of personality involved in the development and maintenance of a wide range of psychological disorders. The Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS) is the most usually applied test to assess perfectionism in children and adolescents. This study aimed: (a) to conduct a reliability generalization meta-analysis to estimate the average reliability of the CAPS scores and to search for characteristics of the studies that may explain the variability among reliability estimates, and (b) to estimate the reliability induction rate of the CAPS.
Method:
An exhaustive search allowed to select 56 studies that reported alpha coefficients with the data at hand for the CAPS.
Results:
The average alpha coefficients were 0.87, 0.84 and 0.83, respectively for the CAPS total score and its two subscales, Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and Self-Oriented Perfectionism (SOP). Regarding O'Connor's version, the average reliability coefficients were 0.82, 0.74 and 0.73, respectively, for SPP, SOP-Critical and SOP-Strivings. Some study characteristics (ethnicity, language, mean age and standard deviation of the scores, psychometric vs applied) showed a statistical association with the reliability coefficients of SPP and SOP. The reliability induction rate was 29.8%.
Limitations:
Due to the scarcity of studies, we could not examine the reliability scores of other versions of the CAPS and test-retest reliability.
Conclusions:
In terms of reliability, the original version of the CAPS present better results than O'Connor's version. The original version of the CAPS is a reliable instrument to be employed with general research purposes, but not for clinical practice.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Reliability and Validity
Generalized Hooke's Law
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
Generalization, Discrimination, and Extinction
Generalization occurs when a behavior reinforced in one context is performed in similar situations. For instance, a student who studies diligently for calculus and receives excellent grades might apply the same study habits to psychology and history, expecting similar results. Generalization shows how learning in one setting can influence behavior in...
Cognitive Development During Adolescence

