Perfectionism, Perceived Rejection, and Subjective Well-Being in University Students

Abstract

The study aimed to explore how perfectionism and feelings of rejection are related to subjective well-being in university students. The sample comprised 320 students (159 men and 161 women), aged 18-30, who were recruited from universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) was used to measure three dimensions of perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). They also completed the Feeling of Rejection (subscale of the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale) (Goodenow, 1993) and the Student Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire (SSWQ; Renshaw, 2015), which includes subscales for school connectedness, joy of learning, educational purpose, and academic efficacy. Correlation analysis showed that perfectionism (self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism) were negatively related to feelings of rejection. Self-oriented perfectionism was positively associated with joy of learning, school connectedness, educational purpose, and academic efficacy. Socially prescribed perfectionism was positively associated with joy of learning, educational purpose and, academic efficacy. Feelings of rejection were negatively related to joy of learning, school connectedness, educational purpose, and academic efficacy. Multiple regression analysis revealed that self-oriented perfectionism was positively predicting joy of learning (β = .31, p < .05), school connectedness (β = .20, p < .001), educational purpose (β = .32, p < .01), and academic efficacy (β = .30, p < .001). Feeling of rejection negatively predicted joy of learning (β = -.27, p < .05), school connectedness (β = -.17, p < .01), educational purpose (β = -.14, p < .05) and academic efficacy (β = -.17, p < .05). The findings hold valuable insights for mental health professionals and educational researchers, emphasizing the need to promote adaptive perfectionism and address rejection sensitivity to enhance students’ emotional and academic well-being.

Keywords: Perfectionism, feelings of rejection, subjective well-being, university students