Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the Big Three Perfectionism Scale–Short Form (BTPS-SF) in a community sample of adults

Abstract

Background

Despite the high clinical relevance of the perfectionism construct as a transdiagnostic contributor to different mental health symptoms, and the recent burgeoning of research in this area across cultures in the past two decades, the Arab region was one of the cultural settings experiencing the slowest progress in this line of research. This study aimed to make a meaningful contribution to the literature by validating an Arabic-language version of the 16-item Big Three Perfectionism Scale–Short Form (BTPS-SF). In particular, we sought to examine structure and concurrent validity, internal consistency, and measurement invariance across gender groups.

Method

A web-based, convenience sampling method was adopted to collect a sample of Arabic-speaking adults from the general population of Lebanon (N = 515; aged 27.55 ± 10.92 years; 69.9% females). The forward-backward method was applied in translating the Arabic version of the BTPS-SF.

Results

The examination of the internal structure, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), demonstrated that the three-factor model (i.e., rigid, self-critical, and narcissistic perfectionism) fitted well to the data. All three factors of the Arabic 16-item BTPS-SF yielded excellent reliability estimates, with both Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega ranging from 0.83 to 0.86. Multi-group CFA revealed that fit indices showed no significant difference in model fit at the configural, metric, and scalar levels, thus suggesting that the factor loadings, pattern structure, and item intercepts are invariant across gender groups. Finally, BTPS-SF subscales scores correlated positively with psychological distress (i.e., depression, stress and anxiety), and inversely with subjective well-being, indicating an acceptable concurrent validity.

Conclusion

The present findings allow us to conclude that the Arabic BTPS-SF permits to capture reliably and validly three main factors of perfectionism. We hope that providing this psychometrically sound scale will encourage its large use not only in empirical research, but also in clinical applications, including psychological screening and treatment monitoring.