The alarming rise of perfectionism among young people
Across 35 years of data from nearly 100,000 students in the US, UK, and Canada, perfectionism has climbed steadily, and the most damaging kind of perfectionism, the fear of failing, is up about 40%.The climb began around 2000, well before social media and smart phones.
What tracks it most closely isn't screen time. It's economic inequality. In this episode, Katty Kay speaks with Thomas Curran, a professor at the London School of Economics and the the expert behind that research, about why perfectionism is climbing so drastically, why it doesn't actually make anyone more successful, and what parents can do instead.
