Perfectionism and student health: The cause of all our problems

Описание: As a university student, there is a lot of pressure externally, internally and socially. This pressure comes from high standards and the need to succeed. These standards and pressure often times lead to high stress and anxiety within university students. This can be classified as perfectionism. It is something many of us hear about but do not know exactly what it is.

Perfectionism can come from societal expectations to succeed and can be a motivation for success or create a fear of failure.

Perfectionism has a broad spectrum but mainly includes excessive concern over making
mistakes, high personal standards, the perception of high parental expectations, the perception of high parental criticism, the doubting of the quality of one's actions, and a preference for order and organization.

Copyright McMaster University 2019

References:

Curran, T., & Hill, A. P. (2017). Perfectionism is increasing over time: A meta-analysis of birth cohort differences from 1989 to 2016. Psychological Bulletin. Advance online publication.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000138

Frost, R.O., Marten, P., Lahart, C. et al. The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research (1990) 14: 449. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01172967

Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior.