Adult children of alcoholics and perfectionism: is there a correlation?

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between adult children of alcoholics and neurotic perfectionism. Neurotic perfectionism was determined by examining five different areas of the Almost Perfect Scale- Revised which are Standards and Order, Discrepancy, Relationships, Procrastination, and Anxiety. One hundred and nineteen students enrolled in the general psychology course at the university chosen participated in this study. Of the total participants, nineteen were identified as adult children of alcoholics by their scores on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Adult children of alcoholics were identified as those individuals scoring a 6 or higher on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Participants were administered the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST), the Almost Perfect Scale – Revised (APS-R), and a Demographic Questionnaire. Based on the results of the study, adult children of alcoholics tend to have higher perfectionism levels on the Discrepancy scale than adult children of non-alcoholics. There appears to be no significant correlation between adult children of alcoholics and perfectionism in the areas of Standards and Orders, Procrastination, Anxiety, and Relationships. However, a trend did emerge between being an adult child of an alcoholic and being labeled as a perfectionist by significant others.