Recently, York VP Research & Innovation Stan Shapson presented Professor Gordon Flett, of the Faculty of Arts Psychology Department, with a Canada Research Chair (CRC) certificate.
Flett was appointed a Tier 1 CRC in Personality and Health last October. As a CRC, he is exploring the relationship between perfectionism and psychological disorders, including eating disorders and postpartum depression. He is expanding his research to include the role of perfectionism in the treatment of and recovery from physical illnesses.
Left: Gordon Flett
For Flett, personality is the key to many health problems stemming from stress and the inability to cope with stress. He is also taking a close look at the role of perfectionists in contributing to stress and distress in their adolescent children, and the transmission of this personality trait from parent to child.
With Paul Hewitt of the University of British Columbia, Flett co-developed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, a model reconstruction of both the personal and interpersonal components of perfectionism. Subsequent research efforts based on this model have firmly established that perfectionism has personal and interpersonal components and is associated with various forms of maladjustment, including depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies.
With Hewitt, Flett published a book in 2002 entitled Perfectionism: Theory, Research and Treatment.