The model of excellencism and perfectionism with athletes: A look at measurement and associations with well-being and performance satisfaction as indicators of thriving

The Model of Excellencism and Perfectionism (MEP) proposes that the effects of pursuing perfection (i.e., perfectionism) need to be assessed beyond the effects of pursuing excellence (i.e., excellencism). Our objective in this research was to rely on the MEP to further our understanding of athlete perfectionism on two key points. First, we focussed on a scale designed to measure dispositional perfectionism and excellencism – the Scale of Perfectionism and Excellencism (SCOPE) – and tested the factor structure of an adapted version of the SCOPE for athletes (SCOPE-A). Second, we addressed the substantive question of whether perfectionism, beyond excellencism, is beneficial, unneeded, or harmful for athletes’ thriving (i.e., experiencing high levels of well-being and performance satisfaction). We analyzed data collected across four samples of athletes (total N = 1,549). The results of confirmatory factor analyses and multiple regression analyses provided evidence to support the factor structure of scores from the SCOPE-A, and the conclusion that, when it comes to athlete thriving, perfectionism is almost always unneeded and excellencism is almost always good enough. These results shed new light on the connection between excellencism, perfectionism, and athlete thriving, and contribute to future research examining the effects of excellencism and perfectionism in athletes using the SCOPE-A.