Relationships between quest for significance, perfectionism, personality and parental attitudes in emerging adults

Quest for Significance Theory states that there is a desire to feel valuable and important in the eyes of others. It states that this universal desire can be activated by current loss of significance, threat of loss of significance and the chance to gain significance. An individual may seek importance for himself/herself, others and his/her social life. This situation can activate perfectionism. Perfectionism is setting excessively high standards for oneself and others and having a critical attitude while making efforts to reach these expectations. Perfectionism can be analysed in three dimensions: self-oriented, others-oriented and social-oriented. The aim of this study is to determine the predictive relationships between importance seeking and perfectionism. The research was conducted with a total of 412 participants, 232 female and 180 male, at the emerging adulthood age level. Survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. The Quest for Signicance Scale, Big Three Perfectionism Scale-Short Form and Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools. In analysing the data obtained from the measurement tools, t-test was used for the comparison of paired groups and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the comparison of more than two groups. Predictive relationships between quest for significance and perfectionism were analysed by simple linear regression technique. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found in the quest for significance of emerging adults according to gender, perceived mother attitude, perceived father attitude and the way their personality is defined. On the other hand, no significant difference was found in quest for significance according to age level, income level and whether family unity was broken or not. A significant and moderate positive relationship was found between emerging adults' quest for significance and perfectionism. The results obtained from the study were discussed and interpreted in line with the literature. In addition, suggestions for researchers, practitioners and policy makers are presented in line with the results of this study.