Empleando análisis de perfiles y curvas ROC para examinar la relación entre el perfeccionismo y la autoeficacia académica en estudiantes de Educación Secundaria

The aim of this study is to clarify the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and academic self-efficacy in adolescents using a dual approach: variable-oriented and person-oriented. The sample consists of 1.375 students aged between 15 and 18 years (M = 16.36, SD = 1.04). The Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale and the Perceived Self-Efficacy in Academic Situations Scale are employed. Four perfectionist profiles as a result of the combination between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) are obtained using the Latent Profile Analysis: very low perfectionism, low perfectionism, high perfectionism, and moderate perfectionism. The high perfectionism group score significantly higher in academic self-efficacy than the others. Moreover, post-hoc comparisons show that there are statistically significant differences in academic self-efficacy between all profiles, with moderate to large effect sizes, except for those with very low and low perfectionism. Logistic regressions demonstrate that SOP and SPP positively and significantly predicted high scores in academic self-efficacy. Analysing ROC curves, it is found that both SOP and SPP have good and similar discriminative ability, correctly classifying 79% and 76% of participants with and without high levels of academic self-efficacy, respectively. Possible explanations and implications for Educational Psychology are discussed.