PERFECTIONISM AS A COMPENSATORY STRATEGY FOR AVOIDING SHAME IN ADOLESCENCE

Abstract

The article focuses on analyzing the peculiarities of perfectionism as a compensatory strategy for avoiding shame in adolescence. The author considers perfectionism as a strategy of avoiding shame, which is a characteristic of adolescence, when the core of the personality acquires stable forms. It is shown that the format of “positive perfection” is based on rules and standards that become forms of moral imperatives. It is proved that deviations from such perfectionism standards lead to self-criticism, guilt and shame. Shame is analyzed as a cognitive effect resulting from the assessment of how much we do not meet our own standards and the standards of other people. The generalization of theoretical approaches regarding the connections between perfectionism and shame has led to the focus of an empirical study to confirm this connection in adolescents, taking into account their gender identification. The study is based on the correlation between individual factors of perfectionism, between these factors and various forms of shame, as well as the search for differences in the prevalence of perfectionism factors, forms of shame and the correlation between them depending on the gender identification of the respondents. The compliance of the use of a set of research methods with the tasks set is substantiated. The obtained findings indicate that the most common factor in the multidimensional model of perfectionism is self-critical perfectionism, which is 4 times more common among young people as compared to rigid and narcissistic perfectionism. According to the results of measuring the tendency to feel guilt and the tendency to feel shame, it can be stated that for young men, the average and increased level of manifestation of global shame, i.e. its adaptive intensity, is more typical, but for young women and non-binary people, there is a tendency to increase intense, maladaptive shame compared to young men. The analysis of correlations showed that there is a correlation between rigid perfectionism and various forms of shame in all three groups. For the group of non-binary individuals, the relationship between self-critical perfectionism and ruminative specific shame is statistically significant. It was found that perfectionism does not imply a tendency to only global or only specific forms of shame. Self-critical perfectionism determines the intensity of different forms of shame and the motivational components they embody.