A Proposed Framework for Preventing Perfectionism and Promoting Resilience and Mental Health Among Vulnerable Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Recent findings suggest that perfectionism is highly prevalent among children and adolescents, and perfectionism can be quite destructive in terms of its links with anxiety, depression, and suicide. In this article, we provide an overview of recent research illustrating the costs and consequences of perfectionism among children and adolescents. We also highlight the heterogeneity that exists among perfectionists and the need for a complex, nuanced approach to assessment and prevention that reflects the achievement and interpersonal concerns of perfectionists. We then summarize past research on the prevention of perfectionism and show that perfectionism is pernicious and resistant to change. Accordingly, interventions must be tailored to address the cognitive and emotion regulation vulnerabilities of perfectionists and their meta-cognitive beliefs about ability, the self, and the meaning of failure. We conclude by discussing why it is essential to proactively design and implement preventive programs with specific components designed to enhance resilience and reduce levels of risk among perfectionists. We outline several themes that should be incorporated in preventive and intervention efforts designed to address the needs of vulnerable perfectionists. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Piloting a perfectionism intervention for pre-adolescent children

“…However, there are few evaluations of such programs in youth, with findings to date suggesting that an explicit focus on reducing perfectionism can indeed be effective, but programs where perfectionism is inserted as part of a general program without an extensive focus on perfectionism, are less effective (Flett & Hewitt, 2014). Only two universal school-based prevention programs directly addressing perfectionism in adolescents have been evaluated with both showing reductions in perfectionism.…”

“…A combination of achieving striving and evaluative concerns is associated with eating disorder symptoms in adolescents (Boone, Soenens, Braet, & Goossens, 2010). The adverse impact of perfectionism, in conjunction with the high prevalence (around 25%) of evaluative concerns in youth (Hawkins, Watt, & Sinclair, 2006), has resulted in a call for school-based prevention of perfectionism and promotion of resilience (Flett & Hewitt, 2014).…”

Perfectionistic concerns predict increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms: a three-wave longitudinal study

“…The developmental changes that occur in adolescence-such as increases in cognitive abilities, self-consciousness, and awareness of social standards-make it a period of elevated susceptibility to evaluative feedback and to others' achievement expectations (Flett & Hewitt, 2014;Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & Macdonald, 2002). Thus, adolescence is a key period for the study of perfectionism.…”

Maladaptive Perfectionism and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Role of Resilience and Trait Emotional Intelligence

“…Whilst psychological distress is a common topic in university mental health literature, treatment and interventions focused more directly on maladaptive perfectionism may be more client-centred and effective for students with perfectionistic tendencies (Radhu et al, 2012). Consistent with previous findings, the results of this study identified resilience and trait emotional intelligence as important variable to consider for the prevention or control of perfectionism in students (cf., Flett & Hewitt, 2014;Klibert et al, 2014). However, both of these constructs in relation to maladaptive perfectionism are under researched.…”