Chief Investigator: Professor Tracey Wade

Funding Amount : $99,996

Recipient: Flinders University

Overview: Perfectionism has linearly increased in youth since 1989. Three out of ten adolescents meet criteria for being perfectionistic e.g., have high but rigid and unrealistic standards accompanied by doubts and self-criticism about performance. In youth, robust associations exist between perfectionism and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, depression, anxiety, stress, self-harm, impaired social connection and disordered eating. Perfectionism is also linked to poorer academic habits and outcomes in education. The current project evaluates the first early intervention approach ever developed to empower parents to minimise current and future negative consequences of perfectionism in their young children to prevent future harmful consequences.