{"id":94213,"date":"2024-07-02T16:28:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T20:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=94213"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:31:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T20:31:49","slug":"schools-out-for-summer-which-can-be-a-challenge-for-teen-perfectionists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/07\/schools-out-for-summer-which-can-be-a-challenge-for-teen-perfectionists\/","title":{"rendered":"School\u2019s out for summer \u2014 which can be a challenge for teen perfectionists"},"content":{"rendered":"

While many students relish having the summer off from school, the downtime can strike a different chord with teen perfectionists.<\/p>\n

The loss of structure and purpose provided by rigid schedules and schoolwork can cause anxiety amongst some youth, which may become apparent only a few days into the summer holidays, says Brock University Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Danielle Sirianni Molnar (BA \u201901, MA \u201905, PhD \u201911).<\/p>\n

\u201cParents may observe their teens feeling restless unless they are busy or working towards their unusually high standards,\u201d says the Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth<\/a>. \u201cIt is not uncommon for teen perfectionists to share with us that they tend to ‘over plan’ their summers so they do not lose momentum and can make the most of their time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may mean taking up new hobbies, engaging in sports, learning a new language or volunteering \u2014 in many cases to ensure they are strong candidates for scholarships, university applications or future careers, Sirianni Molnar says.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind, this is in addition to their paid employment and their social time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Sirianni Molnar, who has researched teen perfectionism for the past decade, encourages parents to be on the lookout for signs of \u201cactivity-based self-worth,\u201d which sees teens basing their worth as human beings on their ability to always be engaged in meaningful activities.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the behaviour of teen perfectionists, her research team is looking for participants for their new study, \u201cLiving with Perfectionism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth between 12 and 18 years of age who self-identify as perfectionists and their parent or guardian can enrol in the study by emailing lwp_study@brocku.ca<\/a>. They need to live within a reasonable driving distance to Brock, since part of the research will be conducted in a University lab.<\/p>\n

\"Danielle<\/a>

Danielle Sirianni Molnar, Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth, is conducting a new study on teen perfectionism.<\/p><\/div>\n

Participants will be asked questions but with a twist: instead of answering verbally or with numbers on a scale, the teen and their parent will take photographs separately to illustrate their answers.<\/p>\n

The duo will then come into the lab and discuss their photos with each other and the researchers.<\/p>\n

At the end of the study period, participants will receive gift cards for their participation and can choose to have their photos showcased in an exhibition, where members of the public can view the images and learn the stories behind them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want it to be an immersive experience where the public can feel what the participants feel to gain a deeper understanding of what day-to-day life is like for young perfectionists and their families,\u201d says Sirianni Molnar.<\/p>\n

She says studies into this topic are important to raise awareness, as parents often don\u2019t recognize the signs of perfectionism and the damage it causes to their children\u2019s mental and physical health.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung perfectionists wear this mask of perfection that creates a barrier to sharing with others, resulting in a profound level of social disconnection,\u201d she says. \u201cAlthough they view this mask as being protective, the persistent loneliness can lead to mental health problems like depression, isolation, anxiety and chronic stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sirianni Molnar says that perfectionist teens may not be doing as well in life as they appear, either. In studies examining their objective performance, most perfectionist teens don\u2019t perform much better than their peers. In some cases, they may even perform worse because their anxiety over everything being flawless causes them to procrastinate.<\/p>\n

Perfectionistic teens also tend to seek validation by \u201cover monitoring\u201d the eye contact, facial expressions and other body language of people who they\u2019re interacting with, and through \u201clikes\u201d and comments on social media, she says.<\/p>\n

Receiving less-than-stellar feedback from others can cause debilitating anxiety in perfectionistic teens.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung perfectionists interpret feedback very differently than those who are lower in perfectionism,\u201d says Sirianni Molnar. \u201cIf someone is told, \u2018You look good,\u2019 a lot of people would take that as a compliment,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the perfectionist teen would think, \u2018Just good? Why just good? What’s wrong?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She says her research aims to help parents, teens, and teachers recognize the signs of perfectionism and \u201cto provide resources aimed at supporting young perfectionists in letting go of their perfectionistic tendencies so that they can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While many students relish having the summer off from school, the downtime can strike a different chord with teen perfectionists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":94215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7484,3319,1,5,38],"tags":[6551,1927,423,2149,3585,8485,1926,522,926,9355,3584,29,3325,3218,10411,2150],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94213"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94226,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94213\/revisions\/94226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}