FMPS Perfectionism Score

About the FMPS (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale)

Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate built the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) in 1990 around the idea that perfectionism isn't one trait but several working at once. The scale ended up being one of the most cited perfectionism measures in clinical and personality research.

The original has 35 items answered on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). You score it by taking the sum of items per subscale, with the overall total being FMPS = sum(all items). The items spread across 6 subscales:

CM (Concern over Mistakes) · PS (Personal Standards) · PE (Parental Expectations) · PC (Parental Criticism) · D (Doubts about Actions) · O (Organization). CM and D tend to be the most maladaptive facets; PS and O are the ones usually read as adaptive.

The Brazilian validation by Soares, Gomes, Macedo & Azevedo (2003) confirmed that multidimensional structure, and the scale shows up often in Brazilian work on eating disorders, OCD and anxiety.

Applications

Researchers and clinicians reach for the FMPS when working on obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, social anxiety, burnout and depression. It also turns up in sports psychology, studies of academic performance and parenting research, where the point is to tell healthy striving apart from the pathological kind.

FAQ

Is a high score bad? Not on its own. High Personal Standards and Organization can be healthy, whereas high Concern over Mistakes and Doubts about Actions usually point the other way. What the profile across dimensions looks like tells you more than the total ever will.

Can it be self-administered? You can fill it out yourself, but leave the interpretation to a psychologist. This calculator is no substitute for a clinical evaluation by a qualified professional.

Are there shorter versions? Yes. Brief versions (FMPS-Brief) running 8-22 items have been built and validated for screening.