The pursuit of perfection is on the rise among college students, with fear of failure and judgment growing faster than the drive to achieve, according to research published in Psychological Bulletin, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association (APA).

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‘Perfectionism pandemic’

"Perfectionism is a global public health concern ... and is likely to be contributing to the worsening mental health of young people,” Thomas Curran said in the paper. Curran is a professor of psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the lead author of the research.

The study links the increase in perfectionism to rising inequality and slowing economic growth. "If we want to tackle the youth mental health crisis, we need to focus on these cultural and economic factors,” Curran said.

Analyzing data from 307 studies involving more than 82,000 American, Canadian and British college students, researchers found increasing rates of self-reported perfectionism between 1989 and 2024.

Perfectionism is more than simply wanting to do well. Researchers say it is multidimensional, involving setting extremely high standards for oneself and engaging in intense self-criticism, as well as perceiving others as excessively demanding and becoming increasingly sensitive to mistakes.

Not all forms of perfectionism have risen at the same pace since the early 2000s. "Perfectionistic concerns,” including fear of failure, indecisiveness and fear of being negatively judged by others, increased much faster than "perfectionistic strivings,” or the motivation to set high standards and achieve them.

Growing inequality, growing concerns

The researchers also examined whether changes in perfectionism tracked broader economic conditions over time. The study found that when gross domestic product (GDP) per capita grew more slowly, "perfectionistic strivings” tended to be higher, while rising economic inequality was associated with sharper increases in "perfectionistic concerns.”

Curran, who has extensively studied perfectionism and explored its causes and consequences in his best-selling book "The Perfection Trap,” said the findings point to different ways economic pressures may shape perfectionistic tendencies among young adults. "When there’s a lack of economic opportunity, young people seem to compensate with striving,” he said. "And when inequality grows, what you see is that fear and worry about making mistakes and other people’s opinions start to become a more central feature of young people’s psychology.”

And while perfectionism takes different forms, its association with mental health concerns has remained stable over time, with people reporting higher levels of perfectionism also reporting more symptoms of depression and anxiety. With perfectionism on the rise, the researchers say its growing prevalence could translate into greater mental health concerns across the population.