[Perfectionism and high intellectual capacity]

Perfectionism is a psychological construct related o excellence and an optimal manifestation of high intellectual ability (HIA). The main goal of the present work was to compare types and dimensions of perfectionism in students with HIA and an age-gender matched comparison group. We selected 137 participants with diagnosis of HIA and a comparison group of 137 matched by gender and age. The mean age was 11.77 years (SD = 1.99). The Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R) and the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale-12 (PNPS-12) were used. The cluster analysis for the total sample identified 3 groups of participants (non-perfectionist, unhealthy perfectionist/negative, and healthy perfectionist/ positive). The HIA group presented a higher prevalence of healthy perfectionists and a lower prevalence of unhealthy perfectionists, in comparison with the group of students without a diagnosis of HIA. When comparing the average scores of APS-R and PNPS-12 between the ACI and the comparison group, statistically significant differences were found in high standards, order, discrepancy, positive and negative perfectionism. In all cases, the comparison group yielded higher mean scores than the HIA group. These results have clear implications in the understanding of the phenotypic expression of perfectionism related to excellence and optimal manifestation of the high intellectual potential.