Practice Does Not Make Perfect: The Tireless Pursuit of Achieving Perfect Sleep

Perfectionism is consistently identified as a predisposing and perpetuating factor for a wide range of mental health conditions and disorders. Given the unique cognitive, emotional, and physiological characteristics associated with perfectionism, perfection could have serious implications for a critical health behavior-our sleep. The current study examines the links between perfectionism and sleep health with the goal of identifying potential sleep-related beliefs as underlying mechanisms.

Participants were 417 undergraduate students at a large, public university in the mid-Atlantic United States. Participants completed a one-time online survey with the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, the Dysfunctional Beliefs about Sleep Scale, Perceived Competence Scale about their sleep, and the RU SATED sleep health scale.

A two-step structural equation modeling strategy was used. Greater perfectionism discrepancies predicted greater dysfunctional beliefs about sleep (β = 0.45) and worse perceived sleep competence (β = -0.33). Moreover, greater dysfunctional beliefs and worse perceived sleep competence predicted worse sleep health (β = -0.23 and 0.59, respectively). Dysfunctional beliefs and perceived sleep competence significantly mediated the effect of maladaptive perfectionism on sleep health (β = -0.302).

Dysfunctional beliefs and sleep competence emerged as mechanisms through which maladaptive perfectionism may function as a barrier to healthy sleep. Although prior research positions perfectionism as a primary correlate of poor sleep, the current study identifies the role of beliefs about sleep as the pathway from perfectionism to poorer sleep health. The results highlight the importance of addressing both maladaptive beliefs about sleep as well as beliefs about one's own sleep competency with undergraduate students with higher maladaptive perfectionism.