Persistence Is Multi-Trait: Persistence Scale Development and Persistence Perseveration and Perfectionism...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Persistence is conceptualized as a goal-oriented behavior and a positive psychological resource.
• It is associated with adaptive functioning, resilience, and self-regulation.
• Distinguishing adaptive persistence from potentially psychopathological perseverance and perfectionism is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the non-clinical Persistence Scale (PS) in Polish and English.
• To translate and validate the Persistence, Perfectionism and Perseveration Questionnaire (PPPQ) in Polish.
• To analyze the psychometric properties of both the PS and PPPQ scales.

Main Methods:

• A non-clinical sample of 306 adults (mean age 27.6) participated.
• Scale properties were assessed using the NEO-FFI, PSS-10, UPPS-P, SPSRQ, Grit scale, and NAS-50.
• Psychometric analyses were conducted on the developed and translated scales.

Main Results:

• The PS-20 and PPPQ-10 scales demonstrated adequate psychometric properties.
• A unifactorial structure was confirmed for both versions of the PS-20.
• Persistence positively correlated with Openness and negatively with perceived stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and impulsivity.

Conclusions:

• Persistence is proposed as a broad construct integrating multiple traits.
• Perseveration is identified as an undesirable trait associated with psychopathology.
• Persistence and perfectionism are considered indicators of good psychological functioning.