Teacher and student perfectionism: when perfectionism promotes a sense of helplessness toward learning and worst school achievement

Research underlined a relationship between students’ personal perfectionism and, Learned Helplessness (LH) and Mastery-Orientation (MO). No study has analysed if the students’ perception of teacher perfectionism could contribute to his/her perfectionistic belief and, in turn, promote a rapid abandonment of tasks when faced with failure or a propensity at committing into challenge maintaining confidence in his/her capacities after failure, which in turn foster/hinder school achievement. A cross-sectional study (505 Italian high school students) was conducted to evaluate the mediating role of personal perfectionism and LH/MO in the association between perceived teacher perfectionism and school achievement. In order to evaluate the association between variables, was to carry out a structural equation modelling with latent variables. Mediation analysis indicated that personal standards and MO, mediate the association between perceived teacher standards and perceived teacher discrepancy (perceived teacher standards: β =.12, p =≤.01; perceived teacher discrepancy: β=-.04, p=≤.01) and, school achievement. Personal discrepancy and MO, mediate the association between perceived teacher discrepancy and school achievement (β = -.04, p= ≤.01). The study extends the knowledge on the factors that influence students’ achievement, with application implications, from a preventive point of view related to problems that can have negative repercussions on school performance.