The effects of personal and family perfectionism on psychological functioning among Asian and Latinx youths in the United States

In a study recently published in Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychologyopens in new window, Joey Fung, Grace Cai, and Kenneth Wang examined and highlighted the dual effects of personal and family perfectionism in a sample of Asian and Latinx youths. Perfectionism is often described as having high achievement standards and being overly critical of oneself when the standards are not met. Most studies focus on the role of perfectionism at the individual level (personal perfectionism). For underrepresented youths of color, expectations from families and how families respond to their children’s perceived failures—family perfectionism—may exacerbate or mitigate the negative effects of personal maladaptive perfectionism.

In this study, the authors surveyed 1,078 ethnic high school students (707 Asian and 371 Latinx youths) between the ages of 12 and 17 years. Most of the students (79.2%) spoke another language in addition to English, with the top three most common languages being Cantonese or Mandarin, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Among the surveyed students, the authors found three types of personal perfectionists: adaptive perfectionists (30%), maladaptive perfectionists (39%), and nonperfectionists (31%). They also found three types of perfectionistic families: adaptive perfectionistic families (29%), maladaptive perfectionistic families (39%), and nonperfectionistic families (32%).

Youths were more likely to perceive their families to have the same perfectionistic type as their own (i.e., adaptive perfectionists were more likely to perceive their families as adaptive perfectionistic, maladaptive perfectionists were more likely to perceive their families as maladaptive perfectionistic, and nonperfectionists were more likely to perceive their families as nonperfectionistic). Asian students were more likely to describe themselves as maladaptive perfectionists (43.1%) and to perceive their families as adaptive perfectionistic (39.5%), whereas Latinx students were more likely to characterize themselves as nonperfectionists (38.8%) and to perceive their families as adaptive perfectionistic (38.8%).

Different types of perfectionists have different levels of functioning. When youths were highly critical of themselves and their shortcomings (as with maladaptive perfectionists) or perceived their families to be overly critical of them when they could not meet family expectations (as with perceived maladaptive perfectionistic families), they endorsed the highest levels of anxiety, depression, and disruptive behaviors. In contrast, adaptive perfectionists and youths who reported having adaptive perfectionistic families endorsed the lowest levels of self-criticism, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors.

A family’s healthy expectations and responses to failure buffered against the negative effects of a youth’s own maladaptive perfectionistic tendencies. For example, among youths who were maladaptive perfectionists, those who came from adaptive perfectionistic families reported significantly lower levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, exceedingly high expectations stemming from families were more detrimental compared with standards that the youths set for themselves.

This study highlights the importance of assessing and taking into account the effects of both personal and family perfectionism, especially family expectations and socialization, when working with youths of Asian and Latinx descent. More research is needed to better understand perfectionism in other ethnic groups (e.g., African American youths and families) and the effects of cultural variables such as acculturation and self-construal.

This article is in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area.

Fung, J., Cai, G., & Wang, K. (2023). Personal and family perfectionism among Asian and Latinx youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(2), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000555opens in new window

Joey Fung, PhD, is a professor of psychology and director of the Lee Edward Travis Research Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary. She received her doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on culture and mental health, mindfulness, and parent–child relations.

Grace Cai, MA, is a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary. She works in Joey Fung’s lab, which does research that focuses on culture, children, and families. She is interested in decolonial and liberation psychologies as well as community partnerships in research and practice.

Kenneth T. Wang, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Penn State University. His research focuses on perfectionism, psychological measurement, and cross-cultural psychological adjustment.