7/25/2026
Two days ago I came across a study whose findings truly surprised me. It was about something many people quietly struggle with every day: perfectionism.
The paper was published on Psychological Bulletin by Thomas Curran, Andrew P. Hill, & Pia Marie Pose (2026).
The researchers analyzed 307 separate studies on 82,939 college students from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom covering the period 1989–2024.
They examined several dimensions of perfectionism, including:
--self-oriented perfectionism (demanding perfection from oneself),
--socially prescribed perfectionism (feeling others expect perfection),
--concerns over mistakes,
--doubts about actions.
The researchers found that perfectionism has continued to increase over the past 35 years. The sharpest increases were in fear of making mistakes and self-doubt. Compared with students in the late 1980s, today's college students reported substantially higher levels of perfectionistic concerns. The rise also appears to have accelerated during the past decade.
Curran argues that smartphones are not the primary cause. Instead, social media may amplify the problem, while the deeper drivers are structural: rising tuition costs, greater job competition, widening inequality, economic insecurity, and a growing perception that there is less room for failure.
Whether or not Curran's explanation proves to be the whole story, one thing seems clear: more and more young people are living with the feeling that they cannot afford to make mistakes. That may be one of the defining psychological challenges of our time.
Understanding the causes is important. But knowing how to overcome unhealthy perfectionism may be even more important. Tomorrow I'd like to explore more on this topic.
