View all articles in this issue
Relationship Between Perfectionism and Academic Cheating
Download this article for $1.00 (FREE for Members)
by Christina R. Krone - Pepperdine University and Steve V. Rouse - Pepperdine University
and Lisa M. Bauer - Pepperdine University
The present study examines the relationship between three types
of perfectionism (selforiented, sociallyprescribed, otheroriented) and
the frequency and recency of engagement in academic dishonesty. Eighty
three Pepperdine University undergraduates completed three questionnaires
used to gather demographic information and to measure levels of
perfectionism, and the frequency and recency of academic cheating. Ninety
eight percent of the sample reported engaging in at least one academic
cheating behavior at some point during their life. Selforiented perfectionism
scores of individuals who reported engagement in both “submitting
someone else’s paper as my own” and “dishonest reporting of attendance
for an internship, servicelearning, or similar requirement for a course”
were significantly lower than those who did not report engaging in these
behaviors. Sociallyprescribed perfectionism scores positively correlated
with frequencies of dishonest attendance reporting. The results can be
used to better understand the role of personality traits in academic
dishonesty.
Summer 2012 | Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research (Vol. 14, No. 1, p. 35), published by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright, 2012, Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.