Articles from:February 2025

• Kindness can relieve pressure felt by perfectionistic teens: Brock research

  Thursday, February 27, 2025 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – February 27, 2025 – R0030

  Teens who try to project a flawless image of themselves tend to get bullied more often and are less likely to receive kindness from their peers, says new Brock University research.

  But showing these teens affection and support may mitigate or even reduce the perfectionistic tendencies causing them stress, says the study, “Perfect fronts, fragile bonds: Prospective associations between perfectionistic self-presentation and peer experiences.”

  “When young perfectionists experience kindness and acceptance from their peers, it can help them let go of that constant pressure to be perfect,” says Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Danielle Sirianni Molnar.

  Some 25 to 30 per cent of youth are highly perfectionistic, she says, with that percentage rising.

  “If you’re a parent, teacher or friend, one of the best things you can do for a perfectionist is to show them that they’re valued for who they are, not just for what they accomplish,” says Sirianni Molnar, the Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth.

  Adolescent perfectionists have excessively high standards, feel chronically dissatisfied (even if they achieve their high standards), engage in excessive comparison and think they need to be “the best” as a way of staving off feeling worthless, among other characteristics.

  “Perfectionistic self-presentation” occurs when someone projects the best parts of themselves and covers up any mistakes they commit or flaws they may have.

  Lead author and Child and Youth Studies PhD student Melissa Blackburn says the study is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation and peer relationships over time.

  “Young people often adopt perfectionistic self-presentation tendencies as a way to put their best foot forward and create connections with others,” she says, noting the strategy often backfires and leaves perfectionistic youth feeling isolated from their peers. “This may be particularly harmful for teenagers, given that acceptance from peers plays a key role in their developing sense of self.”

  The researchers — Blackburn, Sirianni Molnar, Professor of Child and Youth Studies Dawn Zinga and Psychology PhD student Hanna Puffer — recruited 239 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 years who filled out a series of surveys between October 2017 and November 2021.

  The surveys measured the participants’ perfectionistic self-presentation strategies and the in-person experiences — both positive and negative — they had with their peers.

  The team found:

  • Younger teens were more upset about displaying their mistakes than older teens.
  • Girls tended to hide their mistakes more than boys.
  • Girls reported lower levels of relational victimization — for example, being excluded and ignored, rumours aimed at damaging relationships — than boys.
  • The higher the teen’s level of perfectionistic self-presentation, the more the teen was victimized by their peers.
  • The lower the teen’s level of perfectionistic self-presentation, the more they experienced pro-social acts such as expressions of kindness and care from peers, attempts by peers to cheer them up and receiving help from peers when needed.

  The tendency for perfectionistic teens to be bullied and deprived of positive social interactions may fuel their perfectionist efforts even more, with the impact of hiding their true selves, says Sirianni Molnar.

  “The research also shows that when adolescents experience more kindness and positive acts from their peers, they’re more likely to relax their efforts to be perfect,” she says. “This suggests that supportive and positive peer relationships can help teenagers break free from the pressure of perfectionism and lead to more authentic, meaningful friendships.”

  Sirianni Molnar says her team’s research provides support for school programs and policies that prioritize kindness, empathy and social-emotional learning that focuses on empathy and conflict resolution. It also aims to increase teachers’ and parents’ awareness of perfectionism. This helps youth build and maintain strong, healthy relationships where they are valued for who they are, rather than what they accomplish.

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases

• Research explores how prenatal nutrition, metabolic health impact children’s brains

  Wednesday, February 26, 2025 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – February 26, 2025 – R0029

  For decades, maternal obesity has been linked to an increased risk for a wide variety of psychiatric disorders in children.

  But this research has relied on measures like body mass index, which may not accurately reflect an individual’s prenatal nutritional and metabolic health, says John Krzeczkowski, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Brock University.

  “Focusing on measures like body mass index alone may put unnecessary blame on pregnant people and actually hasn’t enabled us to explain how and why prenatal nutrition and metabolic problems may increase risk for many different psychiatric problems in children,” he says.

  Thanks to a $726,000 Project Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Krzeczkowski and his team aim to answer these questions.

  “With this critical financial support from CIHR, the team is poised to revolutionize the way we understand risk factors for mental disorders in developing children,” says Brock Acting Vice-President, Research Michelle McGinn. “This groundbreaking research is an essential step toward early interventions to help children and families.”

  First, the study will use multiple research methods that account for the intense complexity of prenatal nutrition and metabolic health. Krzeczkowski says this will position the team to identify the factors that play the strongest role in child brain development.

  Second, to understand how these factors may impact the developing brain, the research team will test their new theoretical model, which states that prenatal nutrition and metabolic health increase child neurobehavioural flexibility.

  Neurobehavioural flexibility — the capacity to change behaviour when faced with various demands in one’s environment — enables people to solve problems, deal with uncertainty and incorporate new information into plans and ideas.

  Its opposite, inflexibility, is the type of rigid thinking and behaviour found in conditions such as depression, autism, anxiety, ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

  The team’s model outlines the impacts on three brain systems — observed through animal studies — that alter the balance between flexible and inflexible behaviour.

  The first is the brain’s energy-balance system, which regulates the intake of calories, the amount burned off by physical activity and the amount of energy stored.

  Prenatal metabolic and dietary health may produce a better balance between appetite-stimulating and appetite-decreasing nervous system cells or neurons in offspring.

  “Because of these changes, offspring are likely better able to alter their eating behaviours when their energy intake needs are actually met, and their behaviour is less constrained by food cues,” says Krzeczkowski.

  The second is the body’s reward system.

  Changes to receptors — molecules that detect and transmit signals to bring about certain actions — in parts of the brain regulating pleasurable feelings are in better balance, thereby decreasing a constant desire for highly palatable foods and other rewards.

  The brain may be less “locked in” on consuming rewards, and therefore is better able to alter attention toward longer-term goals, says Krzeczkowski.

  Thirdly, prenatal nutrition and metabolic health may optimize multiple connections within the offspring’s prefrontal cortex, increasing their ability to monitor and alter food intake and reward-seeking behaviours, he says.

  The team will study the development of these three brain systems at various points in a group of children starting at age nine months and ending at 36 months of age to see if and how the children’s neurobehavioural flexibility is affected as a mental health risk factor.

  “This research will enable us to work with pregnant people to develop the most effective prenatal interventions that support pregnancy health and optimize child neurodevelopment,” says Krzeczkowski.

  Krzeczkowski’s Brock University team members include Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Child Health Equity and Inclusion Karen Patte, Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies and Canada Research Chair in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth Danielle Sirianni Molnar, Professor of Health Sciences Terrance Wade and Professor of Kinesiology and Health Sciences Wendy Ward.

  The federal government funding for the team’s project was announced Jan. 30 by CIHR President Paul Hébert.

  “Supporting research that improves children’s mental health is one of the most crucial investments we can make as a government and a country, as the children of today will shape the society of tomorrow,” says Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre.

  Chris Bittle, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines says “healthy eating patterns are crucial for physical and mental vitality.”

  “Dr. Krzeczkowski’s unique theoretical model will give us profound insights into how we can support the health of families worldwide.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases