The Italian version of Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale: Psychometric proprieties and its associations with pathological narcissism and adult attachment in an adult non clinical sample

The present study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Perfectionistic Self-Presentation Scale (PSPS) in 447 nonclinical adult volunteers (63.5% females; mean age=36.89years). In our sample the PSPS total score and PSPS scales showed adequate internal consistency reliability estimates, and both the dimensionality analyses and WLSMV exploratory structural model supported the original three factors structure for PSPS items. We found a significant correlation between perfectionistic self-presentation and pathological narcissism and a significant role of attachment patterns in explaining the differences between these two constructs. Perfectionistic participants were characterized by avoidant and anxiety attachment styles, while narcissistic participants reported an anxiety style only. As a whole, our findings support the hypothesis that the Italian version of the PSPS is a reliable measure of perfectionist self-presentation in an adult community sample.