Personal and Family Perfectionism Among Asian and Latinx Youth

Public Significance Statement Maladaptive perfectionism (having high achievement standards and being overly critical when the standards are not met) can be detrimental to one's mental health and well-being. For underrepresented youth of color, expectations from families and how they respond to children's perceived failures may exacerbate or mitigate these negative effects. Our study highlights the importance of considering the dual effects of personal and family perfectionism in Asian and Latinx families. Objectives: The goals of the study were to examine the number and types of personal and family perfectionists in a sample of Asian and Latinx youth and to explore group differences between the perfectionistic groups on youth functioning and self-compassion. Method: A total of 707 Asian American and 371 Latinx American youth (M-age = 14.10, SD = .59; 51.8% male and 48.0% female) completed self-report measures of personal and family perfectionism, self-compassion and self-coldness, and youth functioning. Results: Cluster analysis revealed three types of personal perfectionists and three types of perfectionistic families (adaptive perfectionistic, maladaptive perfectionistic, and nonperfectionistic individuals and families). Adaptive personal and family perfectionists reported highest levels of self-compassion, and lowest levels of self-coldness, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. There were significant interaction effects between personal and family perfectionists. Adaptive perfectionists who came from adaptive perfectionistic families reported significantly lower levels of self-coldness, internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Finally, individuals who reported high levels of discrepancy and also came from maladaptive perfectionistic families exhibited highest levels of distress. Conclusions: Our study revealed the importance of taking into account both the roles of personal and family perfectionism when working with youth of Asian and Latinx descent. In particular, perceived high expectations from families may exacerbate the detrimental effects associated with youth setting high standards for themselves. In contrast, family's healthy expectations and responses toward failure can buffer against the negative effects of youth's own maladaptive perfectionistic tendencies.