New Research Finds University Students Experiencing Increasing Levels of Perfectionism
June 01, 2026 | Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science
University students are becoming increasingly perfectionistic, with growing fears about failure, mistakes and being judged by others, according to new research co-authored by Dr Thomas Curran, Associate Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science.
The study, Perfectionism Is Accelerating Over Time: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analytic Review of 35 Years of College Student Data, was published in Psychological Bulletin on 28 May 2026.
Researchers analysed data from 307 studies involving more than 82,000 university students in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada between 1989 and 2024 with findings revealing that several dimensions of perfectionism have increased steadily over time, and some forms accelerating sharply since the early 2000s.