The complex story of educational identity in adolescence: Longitudinal relations with academic achievement and perfectionism

Objective Education has a strong impact on adolescent development. This study investigated the complex longitudinal associations between educational identity processes, academic achievement, and perfectionism. Method The study used a 4-wave design (N = 744 adolescents, M-age = 15.2 years, 55% girls). Results Results showed that self-oriented perfectionism mediated the longitudinal relation between academic achievement and educational commitment, whereas educational commitment mediated the longitudinal relation between self-oriented perfectionism and academic achievement. Also, a unidirectional positive direct link from educational in-depth exploration to socially prescribed perfectionism was found, while self-oriented perfectionism mediated the positive relationship between academic achievement and exploration. Finally, higher academic achievement led to decreases in educational reconsideration of commitment, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism predicted increases in educational reconsideration of commitment and decreases in academic achievement. Conclusions These findings bring forward the intricate and possibly sabotaging links between educational identity processes, academic achievement, and perfectionism.