Dynamics of Indicators of Perfectionism and Symptoms of Emotional Distress in the Russian Student Population over the Past Ten Years: Cohort Study

According to the research data, the number of adolescents and university students with emotional maladjustment is growing up along with increasing levels of perfectionism. In this study, the authors compared indices of perfectionism in two samples of Russian university students that completed the Three-Factor Perfectionism Inventory (N.G. Garanyan, A.B. Kholmogorova) in 2005—2008 (N=449) and 2017—2018 (N=194). The comparison revealed that levels of the most destructive perfectionism aspects associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms have significantly increased. Overall, the means on subscale corresponding to socially prescribed perfectionism have increased by 34%, whereas the indices of perfectionistic thinking have grown twice. According to multifactorial psychosocial model of affective spectrum disorders (A.B. Kholmogorova, N.G. Garanyan, 1998), the cult of success and achievements in modern society is inextricably linked to this growth of perfectionism indices. The data obtained and their interpretations correspond closely to the studies of researchers from western countries. The necessity to create a healthy learning environment and establish psychological service in education’s system is confirmed.

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