Perfectionism is a personality trait, which manifests as having unrealistic standards, strong self-criticism, and fear of failure.

The Center for Research on Personality Development conducts research on the development of different forms of perfectionism (e.g. adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism) as well as on the impact of perfectionism on adaptation to various social roles, such as a student, partner or a parent.

Identity

Identity is defined as a personality structure, which develops in the process of one’s identification with values, plans, and social roles. A well-developed and stable identity allows people make decisions, helps to cope with stress, and provides a buffer protecting individuals from psychological disorders. Developmental psychologists deem the identity development process to be the most important developmental task that people face over the course of their lifetimes.

The Centre for Research on Personality Development studies the development of identity in adolescents and adults.

Parental Burnout

Having children may lead to negative outcomes. One of the most serious difficulties experienced by parents includes parental burnout, i.e. a syndrome which manifests as a prolonged and extreme exhaustion caused by fulfilling the parental role. Parental burnout leads to self-isolation from one’s child/children, doubting one’s parenting competencies, and even regretting having children.

Researchers estimate that globally between 2 to 12 percent of parents experience strong parental burnout, which results from a disrupted balance between resources and burdens in the life of the parent. The Center for Research on Personality Development researches the role of personality traits in parental burnout.

• University studies during the pandemic: The role of perfectionism in the process of adjusting to university studies
  The study will assess the correlation between perfectionism of university freshmen and changes related to their adjustment to university life. The results will show whether the level of perfectionism actually impacts different development of students who had to study during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Characteristics of different levels of personality organization in parental burnout: The mediatory role of parental identity.
  The goal of the project is to assess the significance of the basic and specific personality traits in changing levels of parental burnout. We want to find out whether a stable self-identification as a parent prevents parents from parental burnout.

• Why do some parents regret having children? This is a pilot study using mixed methods.
  The study is financed by a grant from the National Science Centre. The goal of the study is to identify the key factors conducive to some parents regretting having children.
  Principal Investigator: dr Konrad Piotrowski

• Parental burnout, parental identity and self-harm without suicidal intentions: A longitudinal study of mothers in late adolescence and early adulthood
  The goal of the study is to assess whether the degree of parental burnout and the parental identity crisis in young mothers (between 30 and 35 year of age) is related to self-harm without suicidal intentions. During the project we will determine if the level of self-harm can be explained by fluctuations in the level of parental burnout and the crisis of self-identification as a parent.

• Piotrowski, K. (2018). Adaptation of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) to the measurement of the parental identity domain. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 59, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12416
• Piotrowski, K. (2020). How good it would be to turn back time: Adult attachment and perfectionism in mothers and their relationships with the processes of parental identity formation. Psychologica Belgica, 60, 55–72. http://doi.org/10.5334/pb.492
• Piotrowski, K., Brzezińska, A. I., & Luyckx, K. (2020). Adult roles as predictors of adult identity and identity commitment in Polish emerging adults: Psychosocial maturity as an intervening variable. Current Psychology, 39, 2149–2158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9903-x
• Brzezińska, A. I., Czub, T., Piotrowski, K. (2014). Statusy tożsamości a style tożsamości i funkcjonowanie emocjonalne uczniów szkół zawodowych. Psychologia Rozwojowa, 4, 51–71.
• Piotrowski, K., Brzezińska, A I. (2017). Skala Wymiarów Rozwoju Tożsamości DIDS – wersja zrewidowana. Psychologia Rozwojowa, 4, 89–111. https://doi.org/10.4467/20843879PR.17.024.8070

• Piotrowski, K. (2020). Child-oriented and partner-oriented perfectionism explain different aspects of family difficulties. PLoS ONE 15(8), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236870
• Piotrowski, K. (2019). Perfectionism and Identity Processes in Two Domains: Mediational Roles of Worry, Rumination, Indecisiveness, Shame, and Guilt. Frontiers in Psychology, 10:1864, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01864
• Piotrowski, K. & Bojanowska, A. (2019). Factor structure and psychometric properties of a Polish adaptation of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00198-w