Negative Effects of Perfectionism on College Students
College is the beginning of a new chapter in many young adults’ lives. Here, students are expected to balance class work, friendships, family relationships, and mental health all at the same time. Although most students are able to juggle the constant demands of college life there are groups of people, known as perfectionists, who struggle due to their disorder. This review examines studies that explore what types of negative side effects are evident in college students with perfectionistic thoughts and actions. According to research, a person diagnosed with perfectionism, no matter the subtype, is someone who sets high standards for themselves, whether it is in school or out of school,
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The multiple different subtypes of perfectionism are self-oriented, other-oriented, socially prescribed, personal standards, evaluative concerns, maladaptive, and adaptive perfectionism (Chang & Sanna, 2001 & Drizinsky, et al., 2016). Throughout the research, common characteristics were discovered between all of them in relation to the negative side effects. Whether these negative side effects were shown in school or out of school, there were common descriptions of depression, anxiety, and fear of failure (Zhou, Zhu, Zhang, & Cai, 2014, Pirbagluo, …show more content…
A study conducted by Milyavskaya, Harvey, Koestner, Powers, Rosenbaum, Ianakieva, and Prior (2014) found that during winter and summer holidays, students were less likely to experience the negative effects of their perfectionism. Research conducted found that many students with high levels of perfectionism have a high levels of physical and mental fatigue and are more likely to experience frequent burnout (Dittner, Rimes, & Thorpe, 2011 & Zhang, Gan, & Cham, 2007). In having to deal with the constant pressure to live up to their standards, many students have begun to have positive thoughts on cognitive enhancers (Stoeber & Hotham, 2016). This means that in order to reach their high standards, many students believe it is justified to use “steroid’ types drugs for their