Published online Jan 7, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i1.189
Peer-review started: May 14, 2021
First decision: October 17, 2021
Revised: November 2, 2021
Accepted: November 30, 2021
Article in press: November 30, 2021
Published online: January 7, 2022
Future research should focus on the role of adolescent media usage and interests, as well as the protective role of family, school, peers, and leisure time in adolescent perfectionism etiology.
The findings presented in our study have important social, pedagogical, and clinical implications for the assessment and treatment of young adults with psychological disorders in the university setting. More research on the relation between the examined variables is needed, but our results indicate a significant role of sociodemographic traits, social relationships quality, and the impact of media on adolescent perfectionism.
Age and gender predicted adolescent perfectionism. No significant predictive effects for gender were found in relation to “Parental complaining“, “Worrying about mistakes“, and “Organization“. Age is a significant predictor of “Personal standards“ and “Organization“ in older adolescents. The family relationship quality negatively predicted “Parental expectations“, “Parental complaining“, “Doubts in one's own performance“, and “Worrying about mistakes“. The quality of peer relationships negatively predicted “Doubt in one's own performance“ and “Worrying about mistakes“. College relationships quality positively predicted “Personal standards“ and “Organization“. General life satisfaction negatively predicted “Worrying about mistakes“, while current situational life satisfaction positively predicted “Organization“. No significant effects were established for media usage intensity in relation to the six examined dimensions of perfectionism, but the types of media content and media habits were significant predictors of perfectionism.
The research was implemented in 2020 during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic with 203 participants in Croatia. There were 134 female (66%) and 69 male participants (34%), aged 18 to 25 years. The online questionnaire consisted of five parts. The results were analyzed using SPSS v.20 with descriptive and inferential statistical procedures. A three-model hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the sociodemographic factors (Model 1), family, peer, and college relationships, personal and situational life satisfaction (Model 2), and media usage and habits (Model 3) with six perfectionism dimensions (Parental expectations, Parental complaining, Doubt in one's own performance, Personal standards, Worrying about mistakes, Organization).
The aim of this research is focused on the relation between perfectionism and the quality of family, peer, and college relationships and media usage and habits. The research problem is to examine the predictive significance of socioeconomic variables, the quality of family, peer and college relationships, as well as adolescent media usage and content interests in researching perfectionism.
From a cultural, social, educational, and clinical point of view, perfectionism and its impact on adolescents and society in general is still generally modestly researched. The authors aimed at examining the possibilities of predicting adolescent perfectionism in relation to the most important risk-protective dimensions. Adolescents are a very vulnerable population growing up under strong personal and social achievement pressure, potentially hazardous for their value development, self-esteem, and behavior. Due to permanent exposure to “polished virtual lives” via social media, many adolescents become victims of personal dissatisfaction and the “fear of missing out”.
The research study examined perfectionism as a multidimensional construct. The study design on adolescent perfectionism included forms of excessively high personal standards, exaggerated worries about personal mistakes, doubt in one’s performance, over-sized order and organization emphasis, and the importance of parental valuations and expectations. Our research was focused on examining the relation between sociodemographic traits, perfectionism, the quality of family, peer, and college relationships, and media usage and content interests.