frost multidimensional perfectionism scale fmps

Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)

Instructions:

Please answer the following questions in relation to how much they apply to you. Do not spend too much time on any one question.

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly agree
1My parents set very high standards for me.12345
2Organization is very important to me.12345
3As a child, I was punished for doing things less than perfectly.12345
If I do not set the highest standards for12345
4myself, I am likely to end up a second-
rate person.
5My parents never tried to understand my mistakes.12345
6It is important to me that I be thoroughly competent in what I do.12345
7I am a neat person.12345
8I try to be an organized person.12345
9If I fail at work/school, I am a failure as a person.12345
10I should be upset if I make a mistake.12345
11My parents wanted me to be the best at everything.12345
12I set higher goals than most people.12345
If someone does a task at work/school12345
13better than I do, then I feel as if I failed
the whole task.
14If I fail partly, it is as bad as being a complete failure.12345
15Only outstanding performance is good enough in my family.12345
16I am very good at focusing my efforts on attaining a goal.12345
Even when I do something very12345
17carefully, I often feel that it is not quite
right.
Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly agree
 I hate being less than the best at things.12345
I have extremely high goals.12345
My parents expect excellence from me.12345
People will probably think less of me if I make a mistake.12345
I never feel that I can meet my parents’ expectations.12345
If I do not do as well as other people, it means I am an inferior being.12345
Other people seem to accept lower standards from themselves than I do.12345
If I do not do well all the time, people will not respect me.12345
My parents have always had higher expectations for my future than I have.12345
I try to be a neat person.12345
I usually have doubts about the simple everyday things that I do.12345
Neatness is very important to me.12345
I expect higher performance in my daily tasks than most people.12345
I am an organized person.12345
I tend to get behind in my work because I repeat things over and over.12345
It takes me a long time to do something “right”.12345
The fewer mistakes I make, the more people will like me.12345
I never feel that I can meet my parents’ standards.12345

Description

This inventory consists of 35 questions measuring four sub-scales of perfectionism: – Concern over mistakes and doubts about actions – Excessive concern with parents’ expectations and evaluation – Excessively high personal standards – Concern with “precision, order and organization” Setting excessively high standards is the most prominent feature of perfectionism, accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations of one’s own behavior, expressed in over concern for mistakes and uncertainty regarding actions and beliefs. Some individuals take pride in their perfectionistic nature and such beliefs can be a key target for psychological intervention. This scale can be useful in highlighting that being highly perfectionist is in fact unhelpful. This test is appropriate for people 15 years and older and is especially appropriate for individuals with critical parents, anorexia, OCD traits or an anxiety disorder. Perfectionistic beliefs may be an important underlying cause of a range of psychopathologies.

Validity and Reliability

The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale was created by Dr. Randy Frost and colleagues in 1990 and originally measured six sub-scales. Subsequent evaluation using principal components analysis found that four sub-scales were more appropriate. Stober (1998) validated the scale using 243 university student participants with an average age of 26.3 years. The validity of the scale has been widely established through convergence with other clinically significant problems, including anxiety in college students (Frost & Marten, 1990), insomnia (Lundh, Broman, Hetta, & Saboonchi, 1994), social phobia (Juster, Heimberg, Frost, Holt, Mattia, & Faccenda, 1996), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Rheaume, Freeston, Dugas, Letarte, & Ladouceur, 1995) and anorexia nervosa (Bastiani, Rao, Weltzin, & Kaye, 1995). In fact, perfectionism may be the underlying trait in many of these problems.

Interpretation

Results consist of a Total Perfectionism score (total of subscales not including Organization) as well as four subscales, presented as raw scores and percentile ranks. The percentiles are based on the data from Stober’s (1998) sample of university students (mean age 26.3). Higher percentiles indicate more problems while a percentile closer to 50 represents the average response. High scores on the Organization subscale do not contribute to Total Perfectionism and are not intrinsically problematic, but combined with high scores on the other factors may exacerbate dysfunction. The four subscales are: -Concern over Mistakes and Doubts about Actions (Questions 9,10,13,14, 17,18,21,23,25,28,32,33,34) – Parental Expectations and Criticism (Questions 1,3,5,11,15,20,22,26,35) – Personal Standards (Questions 4,6,12,16,19,24,30) – Organization (Questions, 2,7,8,27,29,31)

Developer

Frost, R. O., & Marten, P. A. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 559-572. Stober, J. (1998). The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale: More perfect with four (instead of six) dimensions. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(4), 481-491.

Number Of Questions

35

References

Bastiani, A. M., Rao, R., Weltzin, T., & Kaye, W. H. (1995). Perfectionism in anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 147-152.

Hawkins, C. C., Watt, H. M. G., Sinclair, K. E. (2006). “Psychometric Properties of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale With Australian Adolescent Girls”. Educational and Psychological Measurement.

Lundh, L.-G., Broman, J.-E., Hetta, J., & Saboonchi, F. (1994). Perfectionism and insomnia. Scandinavian Journal of Behaviour Therapy, 23, 3-18.

Juster, H. R., Heimberg, R. G., Frost, R. O., Holt, C. S., Mattia, J. I., & Faccenda, K. (1996). Social phobia and perfectionism. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 403-410.

Rhéaume, J., Freeston, M. H., Dugas, M. J., Letarte, H., & Ladouceur, R. (1995). Perfectionism, responsibility, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 785-794.

Developer Reference:

Frost, R. O., & Marten, P. A. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 559-572.

Stober, J. (1998). The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale: More perfect with four (instead of six) dimensions. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(4), 481-491.

Cite this article

mohammad looti (2026). Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/frost-multidimensional-perfectionism-scale-fmps-2/

mohammad looti. "Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2 Apr. 2026, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/frost-multidimensional-perfectionism-scale-fmps-2/.

mohammad looti. "Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2026. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/frost-multidimensional-perfectionism-scale-fmps-2/.

mohammad looti (2026) 'Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/frost-multidimensional-perfectionism-scale-fmps-2/.

[1] mohammad looti, "Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS)," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, April, 2026.

mohammad looti. Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2026;vol(issue):pages.

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