Predictors of perfectionism in college students: Machiavellianism and Boredom as mediators in the relationship between Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Perfectionism

The aim of this study was to examine whether the Dark Triad and boredom are significant predictorsof perfectionism in students. Previous studies, describing perfectionism as a desire for perfection, have linkedit to narcissism. This study explores this connection in more depth by introducing, instead of just narcissism,other aspects of the Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and boredom. The sample consisted of 101students of both sexes (F=58%, X²(1)=2.919, p>.001) with an average age of M=22.63 (SD=1.86), ranging from19 to 31. The Big Three Perfectionisms, the Dark Triad Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Boredom Scaleand the UCLA-20 Loneliness Scale were used in the study. During the administration of this battery of tests, allrespondents were also given a socio-demographic data questionnaire that was specially constructed for theneeds of this study. Multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis were used for the analysis.The results showed that Machiavellianism and boredom are mediators in the relationship betweenperfectionism, narcissism and psychopathy. There is a direct significant association between narcissism(z=4.769, p<.001) and psychopathy (z=3.383, p<.001) and perfectionism, but it becomes insignificant whenMachiavellianism and boredom are introduced into this model (z=.634, p=526, z=.632, p=527).