Observational Study
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World J Clin Cases. Jan 7, 2022; 10(1): 189-204
Published online Jan 7, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i1.189
Predicting adolescent perfectionism: The role of socio-demographic traits, personal relationships, and media
Goran Livazović, Karla Kuzmanović
Goran Livazović, Department of Pedagogy, University of J. J. Strossmayer, Osijek 31000, Osječko-baranjska, Croatia
Karla Kuzmanović, Study Programme in Pedagogy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Osijek 31000, Osječko-baranjska, Croatia
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences' Institutional Review Board (Approval Number: 2158-83-06-21-1) on April 12th 2021.
Informed consent statement: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research was conducted according to The Ethical Standards for Research with Children (2003) and the standards of the Ethical Committee for Research of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek. Informed written consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study, as well as their parents and school institutions. All supporting data can be accessed via e-mail, available on demand.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at: glivazovic@ffos.hr. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing, and the data was anonymized so the risk of identification is low.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Goran Livazović, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of J. J. Strossmayer, No. 9 Lorenz Jaeger Street, Osijek 31000, Osječko-baranjska, Croatia. glivazovic@ffos.hr
Received: May 14, 2021
Peer-review started: May 14, 2021
First decision: October 17, 2021
Revised: November 2, 2021
Accepted: November 30, 2021
Article in press: November 30, 2021
Published online: January 7, 2022
Processing time: 229 Days and 22 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The present study investigated perfectionism from the bioecological model perspective as a multidimensional construct manifested in forms of excessively high personal standards, exaggerated worries about personal mistakes, doubt in one’s performance, oversized order and organization emphasis, and the importance of parental valuations and expectations.

AIM

To investigate the relation between perfectionism; the quality of family, peer, and college relationships; and media usage and content interests.

METHODS

The research was implemented in 2020 with 203 students (134 female, 66%) aged 18-25 years, enrolled at the University of Osijek in Croatia. The questionnaire had five parts: A) sociodemographic data; B) the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; C) the “general life satisfaction” and “current situational life satisfaction” scale; D) family, peer, and college relationships quality scale; and E) media usage and content interests scale. All of the implemented instruments showed satisfactory reliability. A hierarchical regression analysis was implemented with the aim of establishing significant perfectionism predictors.

RESULTS

Age and gender were significant predictors of perfectionism. Participants with lower family relationship quality reported higher parental expectations and complaining as well as significantly higher doubts in personal performance and concern about mistakes. Similarly, a lower peer relationship quality predicted doubts in personal performance and stronger concerns about mistakes. The quality of college relationships positively predicted higher perfectionist personal standards and organization. General life satisfaction predicted higher concerns about mistakes, while current situational life satisfaction predicted higher levels of perfectionist organization. Media usage intensity had no significant effect. Adolescent interest in information-educational media predicted higher personal standards as well as concern about mistakes and organization. Higher interests in entertainment media content predicted more concern about mistakes, while interest in negative media content negatively predicted organization in adolescents.

CONCLUSION

Sociodemographic traits, relationships with family, peers and colleagues, as well as life satisfaction and media content interests represent significant adolescent perfectionism predictors, explaining 14%-28% of individual perfectionism dimensions.

Keywords: Perfectionism; Family; Peers; Colleagues; Life satisfaction; Media content

Core Tip: Adolescent perfectionism needs to be examined in more detail from the bioecological model perspective, as included variables demonstrate significant empirical effects.