Do members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experience perfectionism at higher rates than others? That’s one question Justin Dyer, a professor of religious education at BYU, realized has not previously been studied.
Dyer and colleagues set out to see if there were any answers to this question using a study on the mental health of Latter-day Saint youth. The six-year study involved over 2,000 teens and young adults (about half Latter-day Saint, half not).
Professors and mental health professionals wrote about their findings and the impacts of toxic perfectionism in the December issue of BYU Studies.
Dyer said he was surprised when the research revealed that Latter-day Saints are less likely—not more—to experience unhealthy levels of perfectionism compared with other groups.
They found that 12% of Latter-day Saints surveyed experience high toxic perfectionism. That was similar in other religions at 11–13%. But 20% of atheists/agnostics and 27% of former Latter-day Saints were high in high toxic perfectionism.
“So what we find ... is that those who are affiliated with religion, those who believe in God, tend to have lower levels of toxic perfectionism,” Dyer said.
Read the rest of the article at the Church News.
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