Relation Between Perfectionism and Academic Anxiety among Adolescents

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_90How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Perfectionism; Academic Anxiety; Adolescents

Abstract

This review synthesizes theoretical frameworks and empirical findings examining whether perfectionism predicts academic anxiety among adolescents. Perfectionism, characterized by unrealistically high standards and critical self-evaluations, has adaptive and maladaptive forms. Maladaptive perfectionism consistently correlates with heightened academic anxiety, burnout, and emotional distress. The literature highlights cognitive mechanisms, such as excessive error monitoring and internalized social expectations, and identifies academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and social factors as key moderators. Longitudinal evidence underscores adolescence as a critical period when perfectionistic tendencies may escalate anxiety symptoms, particularly during academic transitions. Effective interventions, including cognitive-behavioral psychoeducation, are promising but require further refinement. However, limitations like predominantly cross-sectional designs and insufficient exploration of demographic variations emphasize the need for future longitudinal research to clarify causal relationships and improve tailored interventions targeting maladaptive perfectionism and academic anxiety in adolescent populations. This review highlights the significant link between maladaptive perfectionism and academic anxiety among adolescents, emphasizing the role of cognitive and social factors as key mechanisms and moderators. It underscores adolescence as a critical developmental period for intervention, particularly during academic transitions. The findings contribute to the development of targeted prevention strategies and offer a foundation for future longitudinal research to clarify causal relationships.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yanzi Qian
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Relation Between Perfectionism and Academic Anxiety among Adolescents
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 809
EP  - 817
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_90
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_90
ID  - Qian2025
ER  -