The Reliability and Validity of Scores on the Almost Perfect Scale–Revised With Academically Talented Middle School Students

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Almost Perfect Scale–Revised (APS-R, Slaney, Mobley, Rice, Trippi, & Ashby, 1999) scores were examined in this study. The APS-R consists of three subscales measuring adaptive (high standards, order) and maladaptive (discrepancy) perfectionism. Participants consisted of 342 academically talented middle school students from an academic summer school. Reliability estimates of APS-R subscale scores were in the moderate to high range. The three subscales emerged on exploratory factor analyses; however, confirmatory analyses indicated that the goodness-of-fit indices were just below the criteria for acceptability. The best fit was found for the Slaney et al.'s three-factor model. Correlations between APS-R subscales and grade-point average, an organization variable, and future goal completion provided convergent and divergent validity support for the three scores. The authors concluded that the validation of another perfectionism subscale in an academically talented sample prepares the field for longitudinal studies of perfectionism.