Gen perfect: is our economy fuelling a generation of perfectionists?

“I’m a perfectionist.” For years, that has been the go-to answer in job interviews when someone is asked to name their biggest weakness. It's often worn as a badge of honour: a '‘flaw’’ you think employers will see as a strength.

But perfectionism isn't simply about being conscientious or ambitious. At its heart, it's a personality trait linked to anxiety and a fear of failure. And according to new research by Dr Thomas Curran, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE, it's becoming increasingly common among young people.

Dr Curran describes perfectionism as a personality characteristic that is partly inherited but is largely socially learned.

“There are two components to perfectionism,” he explains. “The first is
what we call ‘perfectionistic strivings’. These are those go-getting qualities, excessive standards and harsh self-criticism when we don’t meet those standards.

“Then there’s a second component called ‘perfectionistic concerns’. Underneath those strivings there’s a lot of fear, worry, concern over mistakes, doubts about our actions, not feeling like we're good enough, not feeling like we matter. There's a lot of unmet needs that go on with perfectionism, particularly the need to belong.”

I see students shifting almost in real time regarding how anxious they are about doing something wrong.

A generation terrified of getting it wrong

In a recent study, ‘‘Perfectionism Is accelerating over time: a cross-temporal meta-analytic review of 35 years of college student data“, Dr Curran and colleagues analysed data from 307 studies involving more than 82,000 university students in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada between 1989 and 2024. They found that perfectionism among students has risen steadily over the past 35 years, with some of its most harmful forms accelerating sharply since the early 2000s.

Most striking was the rise in socially prescribed perfectionism: the feeling that others expect you to be perfect. By 2016, two-thirds of young people were scoring above levels considered typical in 1989 on this measure. Concerns about making mistakes and getting things wrong also increased sharply, with four in five students today scoring higher in this area than the average student did in the late 1980s.

“You can't really underline how significant that shift is,” says Dr Curran, adding that he has seen this change first-hand working with students at LSE. “I see students shifting almost in real time regarding how anxious they are about doing something wrong. I very rarely used to see this, but students now are coming to me asking ‘is this correct?’, ‘am I on the right lines?’ Because they're so worried about doing something in the wrong way and rather than having faith in their own abilities to take an assignment and run with it, they constantly need reassurance.”

What is causing increased perfectionism?

Dr Curran believes wider social and economic trends, particularly rising inequality and economic pressures, are linked to these concerns with heightened competition, insecurity and the growing sense that mistakes carry increasingly serious consequences.

Education systems centred around exams and grades have fed into this narrative as have forms of parenting that place a high value on success and achievement. Likewise, the advent of social media, which can encourage comparisons with others and exacerbate feelings of inadequacy, has played a key role.

“If you live in an economy that has sluggish growth and opportunities are dwindling – especially now with the incorporation of AI into many organisations – you're going to see more striving because we live in a hyper-competitive culture where, even though these broader forces are not young people’s fault, they still take it on themselves and see it as their responsibility to overcome them,” he explains.

“As we move forward, I think we will see a lot more pushing and striving,” says Dr Curran. This is particularly concerning given the links between perfectionism and burnout as well as its connections to mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

We live in a hyper-competitive culture where, even though these broader forces are not young people’s fault, they still take it on themselves and see it as their responsibility to overcome them.

Generational differences in perfectionism

Curiously, even though everybody is arguably affected by difficult economic conditions, regardless of their age, there is something about interacting with these conditions in your formative years which makes you more susceptible to perfectionism. And once adopted as a personality trait, perfectionism tends to stick around for life (although it can be managed with intentional practice and support).

“I think the setup for younger people is much more challenging than it was for older people,” muses Dr Curran. “And that's not to say older people aren't exposed to the same challenges but the way their characters were formalised gives them, I think, a much better grounding to deal with a lot of the challenges of life that young people aren't necessarily as well primed to deal with.”

A stagnant economy with limited growth and rising inequality – compared to a relatively stable market before the 2008 financial crash – has made conditions tough with many people competing for the same jobs.

“Whenever someone says young people are ‘snowflakes’, they're not resilient, they need to work harder, the response is that they're entering into a completely different world than generations before them and they have to deal with all sorts of pressures such as temporary contracts, casual employment, hiring and firing at will. They are attuned to this idea that they're going to have to move and hop and gig and hustle,” says Dr Curran.

One area of perfectionism that Dr Curran believes is often misunderstood is that although ambition can be very high, this can also lead to a lot of procrastination.

He explains: “It's a curious psychology because if you can't get something 100 per cent right, then you pull yourself away from the situation to save yourself from embarrassment, guilt and shame. Often perfectionists are working really hard but have channelled their energy into things they can control and completely avoid the things they can't. And that creates a sense they're not working hard enough or they’re lazy but what's going on underneath is something far more interesting.”

Often perfectionists are working really hard but have channelled their energy into things they can control and completely avoid the things they can't.

Addressing increasing perfectionism

So, what can be done to tackle rising perfectionism? Dr Curran believes there are many different touchpoints in society where there could be better intervention: prioritising growth in our economy, particularly around young people’s opportunities; more work to tackle inequality; parenting that is less focused on achievement; more stringent controls on social media; and an education system that is less concentrated on exams and is more dedicated to play and creativity, especially when children are very young (as is often the case in Nordic countries).

For Dr Curran, rising perfectionism should prompt us to ask bigger questions about the society we are creating. While learning to manage perfectionist tendencies can be helpful, this is not an individual issue and tackling the problem requires broader societal change. Until then, a generation raised to believe mistakes are unacceptable will continue to pay the price.

Dr Thomas Curran was speaking to Charlotte Kelloway, Media Relations Manager at LSE.

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