Why are more and more young people struggling with mental health issues? It is a question that recurs regularly in the media, in policy discussions, in research, and on this blog. My message so far has been that the answer is rarely simple or straightforward. Social media, sleep deprivation, academic pressure, economic uncertainty, changing expectations, diagnostic practices, and societal events such as the COVID-19 pandemic… the list of possible explanations has grown long. New research that I came across, thanks to Dirk Van Damme, suggests we may be able to add another element to that list: perfectionism.

A new meta-analysis by Thomas Curran and colleagues brought together data from more than 82,000 students in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, collected between 1988 and 2024. The findings are striking. Young people not only appear to set higher standards for themselves than in the past, but also increasingly feel that others expect more from them. In addition, self-doubt and fear of making mistakes have become more common.

This matters because perfectionism has long been recognised as a risk factor for anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. The researchers also found that this relationship has not weakened over time. If perfectionism becomes more common, it is likely to translate into a greater population-level risk of mental health problems.

To be clear, this study does not prove that perfectionism is causing the rise in mental health problems. This type of research cannot establish causality. What it does show is that both trends have developed alongside one another. The authors suggest several possible explanations, including increased social comparison, meritocratic thinking, economic uncertainty, and social media. These remain hypotheses that require further investigation.

It is also interesting to consider what this study does not examine. For example, it does not directly explain why girls report mental health problems more often than boys. Yet there may be a connection. Other research suggests that girls are, on average, more sensitive to social evaluation, more prone to rumination, and more likely to score highly on certain forms of perfectionism. That makes it plausible that perfectionism may help explain part of the difference. But that remains speculation, including on my part.

Discussions about young people’s mental health sometimes turn into a search for a single, all-encompassing explanation. Social media are often cast in that role, just as video games, smartphones, or academic pressure have been at different times. Reality is probably less straightforward. Mental health is shaped by an interplay of many different factors.

This study therefore does not provide a definitive answer. Instead, it adds another possible piece to a complex puzzle. And perhaps that is precisely why it is worth paying attention to.