Young People Drowning in a Rising Tide of Perfectionism

The perfect lives we share on social media can have toxic side effects for perfectionists

Perfectionism often develops in childhood, is impacted by parenting and can lead to mental health struggles in later life. Shutterstock

We recently conducted one of the largest-ever studies on perfectionism. We learned that perfectionism has increased substantially over the past 25 years and that it affects men and women equally.

We also learned that perfectionists become more neurotic and less conscientious as time passes.