Check out the latest research article from the lab examining how perfectionism is linked to changes in health-promoting behaviors among teenagers following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic published @ Personality and Individual Differences, authored by Melissa Blackburn, Dr. Tabitha Methot, Dr. Danielle Molnar, Dr. Dawn Zinga, Dr. Natalie Spadafora and Natalie Tacuri. 

For access to the full article until February 24th, 2022, click here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886921008710?dgcid=coauthor

What is the study about?

We examined how teenagers’ (12-18 years) level of perfectionism is linked to their engagement with health-promoting behaviors (e.g., healthy eating, adequate sleep, exercise) before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What did we find?

By examining both survey data and in-depth interviews, we found that most adolescents were experiencing a welcome break from their typically busy schedules during the first lockdown in Ontario which appeared to offer them the opportunity to engage in more health-promoting behaviors.

However, this was not true of all our participants. Teenagers who were high in both the internal drive to be perfect and the belief that others expect perfection of them actually engaged in fewer health-promoting behaviors following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The in-depth interviews we conducted indicate that this may be due to the unwillingness of “extreme perfectionists” to lower their expectations for themselves, even during a global pandemic characterized by uncertainty and change.

So what?

This study is the first to examine the role of trait perfectionism in predicting health-promoting behaviors among teenagers during the pandemic. Our findings highlight that extreme perfectionists may be having a difficult time engaging with positive health behaviors during these unprecedented times.