The image of perfectionism in youth with diverse structure and intensity of anorexia readiness

Abstract

Aim. The aim of the research is to look for similarities and differences in the dimensions of perfectionism, perceived by the subjects with a diverse structure of anorexia readiness and isolated on the basis of cluster analysis. Methods. As part of the research project, the following research tools were used: the Food Attitude Questionnaire by Ziółkowska and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) by Frost et al. translated and developed by Tucholska. Result. In the study of the results of empirical research, cluster analysis based on k-means enabled isolation of 3 clusters (adapted group, egocentric group and anorectic group). Isolated clusters differ in the intensity of features constituting anorexia readiness. Tukey’s post hoc analysis showed that at the level of perfectionism dimensions there are no statistical differences between 2nd and 3rd clusters. At the full-dimension level, it showed that Clusters 2 and 3 achieve higher means than cluster 1 in all dimensions of perfectionism. Conclusions. Summarising the results presented in this work, it can be pointed out that: (1) three groups have been distinguished: adapted, egocentric and anorectic; (2) the anorectic group obtained the highest score in all dimensions; (3) the isolated groups do not differ from each other in the structure of perfectionism; (4) the profile of mean scores on the dimensions of perfectionism in all three isolated groups is very similar.