It is firmly established that personal relationships play a pivotal role in adolescent mental health and well-being. During adolescence, individuals become aware of their distinctiveness and uniqueness from others, initiating the development of a personal identity. Developing a coherent sense of identity is crucial for adolescent mental health, and relationships serve as a vital source of support that aid adolescents to navigate this task¹.

Supportive relationships with parents who are sensitive and responsive to their evolving needs provide a secure base from which adolescents can confidently explore various aspects of their identity. As adolescents increasingly find independent exploration of new social contexts intriguing and rewarding, peers gain centrality in their lives, offering opportunities to learn through novel experiences with friends.

Furthermore, interactions with both parents and peers provide adolescents with self-relevant feedback that enables them to assess whether their self-perception aligns with how they are perceived by significant others. This feedback serves as a tool for them to strengthen or adjust their identity. Hence, these relationships are fundamental for adolescent mental health and well-being^{2, 3}.

During the latter decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st century, there has been a significant increase in mental health problems among adolescents worldwide. Multiple repeated cross-sectional surveys across the world, with extensive sample sizes ranging from over 100,000 to as high as 915,054 individuals, have indicated declining trends in adolescent mental health over recent decades. Although there are considerable national variations regarding the prevalence and changes over time in adolescent mental well-being, declines have been observed in 36 countries⁴. These declines are particularly noticeable in higher-income countries, especially among girls.

These declines coincide with an increase in perfectionism over the past three decades⁵. Recent generations of young people perceive higher expectations from others, and place more demands on themselves. This heightened pressure to achieve perfection partly accounts for the rise in mental health issues⁴. When perfectionism becomes maladaptive, it might complicate the development of a coherent identity, and result in worrying, rumination, indecisiveness, and negative emotions such as guilt and shame. This might explain the association between perfectionism and mental health problems.

The rise in perfectionism probably stems from a combination of various factors, including the growing prevalence of individualistic and materialistic values in society. These trends foster highly competitive settings and set unattainable standards, contributing to unrealistic expectations for youth. These macro-level societal factors not only intensify adolescents’ inclination towards perfectionism and the perceived pressure to excel, but also affect adolescents’ pivotal relationships. Interaction dynamics with parents and peers may be characterized by an increasing preoccupation with youth's successes and setbacks.

Puberty and the associated neurodevelopmental changes contribute to changing power dynamics in parent-adolescent relationships, that are often associated with a temporary increase in conflict. However, relationships with parents usually tend to be warm and supportive throughout adolescence around the world⁶. Research illustrates a marked decrease in authoritarian parenting practices over the last decades, transitioning towards more egalitarian practices⁷.

However, the increase in warm and supportive parenting tends to coincide with heightened parental overinvolvement, anxious overcontrol, and an inclination toward overprotectiveness. Especially during adolescence, such intrusive parenting practices, despite their well-intentioned nature, might impede healthy development. Furthermore, there has been an increase in parental expectations and criticism⁵, which could contribute to the increase in perfectionism and related mental health issues.

Adolescents also face increasing pressure to meet the (perceived) expectations set by their peers, resulting in burgeoning perfectionism and mental health issues. This might have been exacerbated by the widespread use of social media. However, it is important to note that, although trends in mental health problems have been related to social media use⁸, the use of social media is not detrimental for adolescent mental health per se. Contrary to the presumption that social media undermine genuine peer communication, they primarily function as an extension of offline interactions, predominantly fostering and facilitating social connections, and often yielding positive effects on mental well-being⁹. A poignant example arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical interactions among adolescents significantly decreased, and many of them felt more lonely and experienced more mental health issues. Staying connected with peers online helped alleviate some of these adverse effects of physical isolation.

Whereas social media use can be linked to fewer mental health issues when it fosters positive interactions, enhances social support, and facilitates social connectedness, it tends to be associated with more mental health problems when it becomes excessive, displaces time spent in face-to-face interactions, and involves negative interactions or social comparisons⁸. These risks primarily stem from the characteristics of adolescents or their environment, rather than directly from the use of social media itself⁹. There is also a genuine concern regarding addictive behaviors, where youth struggle to disengage from social media and neglect other crucial aspects of their lives, such as schoolwork, relationships or sleep. Social media provide opportunities for positive self-presentation, which might increase feelings of insecurity, perfectionism and depression among youth who grapple with insecurities and constantly compare themselves to seemingly more successful and socially thriving peers.

Rather than discouraging adolescents from using social media, we need to focus on understanding the individual and environmental factors that predispose youth to the adverse effects of these media. Guiding adolescents toward a healthier engagement with social media can reinforce positive social interactions and minimize potential harm for mental health.

Future research should address the repercussions of societal and technological changes on the way in which adolescents’ relationships with both parents and peers are constructed. The prevailing societal trend towards heightened individualism and materialism is fostering increasingly competitive environments and unrealistic expectations. These changes not only directly impact the development of adolescents' identities and mental well-being, but might also affect the nature of their interactions with parents and peers.

Even within the context of warm and supportive parent-adolescent relationships and friendships, these societal changes are likely to influence the perceptions of these relationships, the interaction behaviors, and the interpretation of these behaviors. We need to acquire a more nuanced understanding of the interactions with parents and peers that contribute to the cultivation of perfectionism, which impedes healthy identity development and jeopardizes adolescent mental health.

Perhaps even more important is addressing the macro-level factors that contribute to a societal landscape characterized by increasing competitiveness, economic disparities, and pressure to constantly excel. This socio-cultural context creates an environment in which some youth, along with parents and peers, inadvertently cultivate conditions that breed perfectionism. Therefore, comprehensive research must aim not only to scrutinize the micro-level interactions within relationships, but also to understand the broader societal forces shaping these dynamics.

众所周知，人际关系在青少年心理健康和福祉中发挥着关键作用。在青春期，个体开始意识到自己与他人的独特性和独特性，从而开始形成个人身份。培养连贯的认同感对于青少年心理健康至关重要，而人际关系是帮助青少年完成这项任务的重要支持来源¹ 。

与对他们不断变化的需求敏感并做出反应的父母的支持关系为青少年提供了一个安全的基础，使他们可以自信地探索自己身份的各个方面。随着青少年越来越发现独立探索新的社会环境既有趣又有益，同龄人在他们的生活中占据了中心地位，提供了通过与朋友的新奇经历来学习的机会。

此外，与父母和同龄人的互动为青少年提供了自我相关的反馈，使他们能够评估自己的自我认知是否与重要他人对他们的认知一致。这种反馈可以作为他们加强或调整自己身份的工具。因此，这些关系对于青少年心理健康和福祉至关重要^{2, 3} 。

20世纪后几十年和21世纪前几十年，全世界青少年的心理健康问题显着增加。全球范围内的多项重复横断面调查（样本量从超过 100,000 人到高达 915,054 人不等）表明，近几十年来青少年心理健康呈下降趋势。尽管青少年心理健康的患病率和随时间变化的情况存在相当大的国家差异，但在 36 个国家中观察到下降情况⁴ 。这些下降在高收入国家尤其明显，尤其是女孩。

这些下降与过去三十年来完美主义的增加同时发生⁵ 。新一代年轻人对他人的期望更高，对自己的要求也更高。这种追求完美的压力增大，在一定程度上导致了心理健康问题的增加⁴ 。当完美主义变得适应不良时，它可能会使连贯的身份的发展变得复杂，并导致担忧、沉思、优柔寡断以及内疚和羞耻等负面情绪。这或许可以解释完美主义与心理健康问题之间的关联。

完美主义的兴起可能源于多种因素的综合作用，包括社会中个人主义和物质主义价值观的日益盛行。这些趋势营造了高度竞争的环境，并设定了难以达到的标准，导致对年轻人不切实际的期望。这些宏观社会因素不仅加剧了青少年的完美主义倾向和追求卓越的压力，而且影响了青少年的关键人际关系。与父母和同龄人互动的动态特征可能是越来越关注青少年的成功和挫折。

青春期和相关的神经发育变化有助于改变父母与青少年关系中的权力动态，这通常与冲突的暂时增加有关。然而，世界各地的整个青春期与父母的关系通常都是温暖和支持的⁶ 。研究表明，在过去的几十年里，专制的养育方式明显减少，转向更加平等的做法⁷ 。

然而，温暖和支持性养育方式的增加往往与父母过度参与、焦虑过度控制和过度保护倾向的加剧同时发生。特别是在青春期，这种侵入性的养育方式，尽管其本意是善意的，但可能会阻碍健康发展。此外，父母的期望和批评有所增加⁵ ，这可能会导致完美主义和相关心理健康问题的增加。

青少年还面临着越来越大的压力，需要满足同龄人设定的（感知的）期望，导致完美主义和心理健康问题日益严重。社交媒体的广泛使用可能会加剧这种情况。然而，值得注意的是，尽管心理健康问题的趋势与社交媒体的使用有关⁸ ，但社交媒体的使用本身并不有害于青少年的心理健康。与社交媒体破坏真正的同伴沟通的假设相反，它们的主要功能是作为线下互动的延伸，主要促进和促进社会联系，并且常常对心理健康产生积极影响⁹ 。在 COVID-19 大流行期间出现了一个令人心酸的例子，当时青少年之间的身体互动显着减少，他们中的许多人感到更加孤独，并经历了更多的心理健康问题。与网上的同伴保持联系有助于减轻物理隔离带来的一些不利影响。

虽然当社交媒体的使用促进积极互动、增强社会支持和促进社会联系时，它可能会导致更少的心理健康问题，但当社交媒体使用过度、取代面对面交流的时间时，它往往会导致更多的心理健康问题。面对互动，并涉及负面互动或社会比较⁸ 。这些风险主要源于青少年或其环境的特征，而不是直接源于社交媒体的使用本身⁹ 。人们还真正担心成瘾行为，即青少年努力摆脱社交媒体并忽视生活中的其他重要方面，例如学业、人际关系或睡眠。社交媒体提供了积极自我展示的机会，这可能会增加年轻人的不安全感、完美主义和抑郁感，他们努力克服不安全感，并不断将自己与看似更成功、社交能力更强的同龄人进行比较。

我们不应该阻止青少年使用社交媒体，而是需要重点了解使青少年容易受到这些媒体不利影响的个人和环境因素。引导青少年更健康地参与社交媒体可以加强积极的社交互动，并最大限度地减少对心理健康的潜在危害。

未来的研究应该解决社会和技术变革对青少年与父母和同龄人的关系构建方式的影响。个人主义和物质主义日益盛行的社会趋势正在培育日益激烈的竞争环境和不切实际的期望。这些变化不仅直接影响青少年的身份发展和心理健康，还可能影响他们与父母和同龄人互动的性质。

即使在温暖和支持的父母与青少年关系和友谊的背景下，这些社会变化也可能影响对这些关系的看法、互动行为以及对这些行为的解释。我们需要对与父母和同龄人的互动有更细致的了解，这些互动有助于培养完美主义，而完美主义会阻碍健康的身份发展并危害青少年的心理健康。

也许更重要的是解决宏观层面的因素，这些因素导致了以竞争力增强、经济差距和不断超越的压力为特征的社会格局。这种社会文化背景创造了一种环境，使一些年轻人与父母和同龄人一起，无意中培养了滋生完美主义的条件。因此，全面的研究不仅要审视关系中微观层面的相互作用，还要了解塑造这些动态的更广泛的社会力量。