Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, Vol 58(2), Apr 2026, 104-115; doi:10.1037/cbs0000466
Self-critical perfectionism and stress have been implicated as risk factors for maladaptive academic outcomes (i.e., decreased academic self-efficacy, decreased academic self-concept, and increased academic burnout). The present study investigated a vulnerability-stress model, testing whether self-critical perfectionism moderates the relationship between stressor severity (academic and interpersonal) and academic outcomes. Exploratory analyses replaced self-critical perfectionism with rigid perfectionism in the model. A sample of 384 postsecondary students (76.8% women, average age: 20.06) completed a cross-sectional survey involving questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Stressor severity (both academic and interpersonal) was negatively associated with academic self-efficacy and academic self-concept and positively associated with academic burnout, when controlling for perfectionism. Self-critical perfectionism was positively associated with academic burnout, and rigid perfectionism was positively associated with academic self-concept, when controlling for stressor severity. None of the interaction effects were statistically significant, failing to support a vulnerability-stress model. Findings suggest that stressor severity (both academic and interpersonal) and self-critical perfectionism are strongly associated with maladaptive academic outcomes and may serve as risk factors for poor academic functioning. The lack of interaction effects suggests a vulnerability-stress model may not explain why perfectionism is associated with maladaptive academic outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)