The identification of perfectionistic traits among Malaysian university music students / Engku Erina Zahirah Engku Mohd Suhaimi

Poor mental health is correlated with a high dropout rate among students (Hjoirth et al., 2016). While efforts have been made to help in mental health awareness, the cause of mental health issues in students specifically and its ties to perfectionism is generally a mystery. Perfectionism is rarely examined as a cause of stress in music students. In response, this study aims to explore the presence of perfectionism within music students and the type of perfectionism it manifests as. The objectives of this study are to investigate the presence of perfectionism among students who are also music majors and to identify the manifestations of perfectionistic traits present among university level music students. This research was done through survey-based research using materials from the Big Three Perfectionism Scale (BTPS). The respondents answered the BTPS questionnaire and where students evaluated themselves on how much they related to certain questions regarding perfectionism. The data from this survey was then analysed to find the mean, median, standard deviation and overall percentage of the score. The results from the study show that there is a high level of Concern Over Mistakes (COM) among music students. It can be concluded that perfectionism is present among university music students as the average score for all three global factors is high among music students. This study is significant as it may prove to be a catalyst for awareness of mental health. The study may also act as a starting point for actionable change in the field in terms of mental health issues by helping us understand the topic of perfectionism better especially in the context of music students.