(PS10-20) Considering Race in Perfectionism Research: A Systematic Review of the Last Five Decades

Perfectionism, a multidimensional construct that encompasses striving to meet high standards

accompanied by overly critical self-evaluation, is considered a transdiagnostic risk factor for the development of various clinical disorders. Researchers in the field often note that additional attention is required to understand perfectionism across races and ethnicity (DiBartolo & Rendón, 2012). This systematic review of the empirical perfectionism literature aims to quantify the incorporation of race across research topic, sample composition, journal outlet, and researcher interest and demographics, drawing on Roberts et al.’s (2020) methodology for examining race in psychological research. Study 1 assessed the representation of race in empirical perfectionism research from 1970 to 2023, analyzing 3,719 journal articles sourced from PsychINFO (using perfectioni* in study title and/or abstract). Results showed that despite the ever increasing volume of perfectionism articles over the past 50 years, those judged to focus on race (based on Roberts et al.’s coding criteria) were a flat and vanishingly small percentage (N=106; 2.85%; 𝜅 = .77 across two independent reviewers). Moreover, a quarter (N=27; 25.47%) of the race-focused articles mentioned only White racial terms. Study 2 examined participant demographic composition for the 106 race articles from Study 1. The majority (N=67,644; 52.13%) of study participants in these race-focused articles identified as White; 44.8% of participants identified as People of Color (31.15% Black, 22.89% Asian, 11.53% Hispanic, 1.02% Bi-racial, .39% Indigenous, and 1.37% Other; 𝜅 pending). Studies 3 and 4 examine the most common journal outlets as well as the most prolific first-author researchers for two lists: perfectionism research writ large and in the area of race and perfectionism. Study 3 finds considerable overlap (4 of 6) in the top journals across lists. Study 4 uses an on-line survey (data collection underway) to assess the perceptions of the field for the top 100 perfectionism researchers for each list, asking them to rank the importance of future research priorities, describe how they first became interested in the construct, and specify their own demographic identities.  Thus far, this study’s findings emphasize the lack of proportional growth in race-related perfectionism research and research utilizing diverse samples, despite recent calls for more research on the topic of race (e.g., Hewitt & Flett, 2017; Stoeber, 2018). Perfectionism research incorporated race less often than the 5% found by Roberts et al. (2020) across three other areas of psychology; only cognitive psychology was found to include race less often. It appears that perfectionism research has considerable work to do to explore racially diverse topics and samples. Failure to do so will hinder the development of inclusive interventions for marginalized communities affected by perfectionism-related outcomes. This review will conclude with research recommendations that can promote a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of race on perfectionism, ultimately opening our doors to more inclusive science and practice.