Psychological Vulnerability Profiles in Undergraduate Students: A Person-Centered Analysis of Fear of Failure, Maladaptive Perfectionism, and Academic Procrastination

Abstract

Fear of failure, maladaptive perfectionism, and academic procrastination are linked to academic difficulty, but their within-student configurations remain underexplored. This study aimed to identify psychological vulnerability profiles among undergraduate students based on fear of failure, maladaptive perfectionism, and academic procrastination, and to examine their associations with demographic and academic characteristics. A quantitative, cross-sectional, person-centered design was used. Data were collected through online convenience sampling from 301 undergraduate students enrolled in Pakistani universities. Participants completed measures of fear of failure, maladaptive perfectionism, and academic procrastination. Two stage cluster analysis with hierarchical and k-means clustering was used. The profiles were compared using one-way ANOVA, Games–Howell post hoc tests and chi-square analyses. Three profiles emerged: High Academic Vulnerability, Low Vulnerability, and Fear-Dominant Vulnerability. The profiles differed significantly on fear of failure, F(2, 298) = 184.73, p < .001, η² = .55; maladaptive perfectionism, F(2, 298) = 79.76, p < .001, η² = .35; and academic procrastination, F(2, 298) = 91.21, p < .001, η² = .38. The demographic variables were not significantly associated with profile membership, while CGPA was significantly associated, χ²(4, N = 301) = 10.40, p = .034. The Low Vulnerability profile showed the most favorable academic pattern, with the highest proportion of students in the upper CGPA category. In contrast, the Fear-Dominant profile had the highest proportion of students in the lowest CGPA category. The results suggest that academic vulnerability is not uniform and there is evidence that fear of failure may function as both a shared and distinct academic risk marker.