Generation Me--Revised and Updated

by Jean M. Twenge

  Lilian Katz, a professor: Stout, Feel-Good Curriculum, 178.

  A scale that measures entitlement: W. K. Campbell et al., “Psychological Entitlement: Interpersonal Consequences and Validation of a Self-Report Measure,” Journal of Personality Assessment 83 (2004): 29–45.

  An Associated Press article printed: Martha Irvine, “Young Labeled ‘Entitlement Generation,’ ” AP, June 26, 2005, biz.yahoo.com/ap/050626/the_entitlement_generation.html2.v3. Also reprinted in many newspapers.

  Eric Harris, one of the Columbine: Nancy Gibbs and Timothy Roche, “The Columbine Tapes,” Time, December 20, 1999.

  Singer Lorde casually mentioned: Julie Gerstein, “Teenage Fandom in the Age of Twitter: An Analysis of the Alarming Phenomenon,” StyleCaster, December 23, 2013.

  High narcissism usually means: Twenge, Campbell, and Freeman. “Generational Differences.”

  “We are a socially conscious generation that cares”: Jenna Gourdreu, “Are Millennials ‘Deluded Narcissists’?,” Forbes, January 15, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/01/15/are-millennials-deluded-narcissists/.

  GenMe’ers were less concerned: Twenge, Campbell, and Freeman, “Generational Differences in Life Goals.”

  However, community service was increasingly: M. Planty, R. Bozick, and M. Regnier, “Helping Because You Have to or Helping Because You Want to? Sustaining Participation in Service Work from Adolescence through Young Adulthood,” Youth & Society, 38 (2006): 177–202.

  The closest we can get is to compare: Twenge, Campbell, and Freeman, “Generational Differences in Life Goals.”

  Psychologists Pelin and Selin Kesebir found: P. Kesebir and S. Kesebir, “The Cultural Salience of Moral Character and Virtue Declined in Twentieth Century America,” Journal of Positive Psychology 7 (2012): 471–80.

  UCLA psychologist Patricia Greenfield found: P. M. Greenfield, “The Changing Psychology of Culture from 1800 through 2000,” Psychological Science 24 (2013): 1722–31.

  Among the 18-to-23-year-olds interviewed: C. Smith, K. Christoffersen, H. Davison, and P. S. Herzog, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (New York: Oxford University Press. 2011).

  The good news is that 72%: Twenge, Campbell, and Freeman, “Generational Differences in Life Goals”; and updates from American Freshman datafiles.

  high school students expressed more concern: Park, Twenge, and Greenfield, “Great Recession.”

  Sara Konrath and her colleagues used: S. H. Konrath, E. H. O’Brien, C. Hsing, “Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students over Time: A Meta-analysis,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 15 (2011): 180–98.

  Lori Malahy and her colleagues examined: L. W. Malahy, M. A. Rubinlicht, and C. R. Kaiser, “Justifying Inequality: A Cross-Temporal Investigation of US Income Disparities and Just-World Beliefs from 1973 to 2006,” Social Justice Research 22 (2009): 369–83.

  Dharun Ravi thought it would be fun: Collected from various accounts of the incident, including Christina Boyle, “Dharun Ravi Texted Apology to Rutgers Roommate Tyler Clementi Night of His Suicide,” New York Daily News, March 8, 2012, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dharun-ravi-texted-apology-rutgers-roommate-tyler-clementi-night-suicide-article-1.1035376.

  At least five studies have found: For example, L. E. Buffardi and W. K. Campbell, “Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34 (2008): 1303–14; C. J. Carpenter, “Narcissism on Facebook: Self-Promotional and Anti-social Behavior,” Personality and Individual Differences 52, no. 4 (2012): 482, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.011; and B. Gentile, J. M. Twenge, E. C. Freeman, and W. K. Campbell, “The Effect of Social Networking Websites on Positive Self-Views: An Experimental Investigation,” Computers in Human Behavior 28 (2012): 1929–33.

  Larry Rosen and his colleagues found: L. D. Rosen, K. Whaling, S. Rab, L. M. Carrier, and N. A. Cheever, “Is Facebook Creating ‘iDisorders’? The Link between Clinical Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders and Technology Use, Attitudes and Anxiety,” Computers in Human Behavior 29 (2013): 1243–54.

  My colleagues and I designed: Gentile, Twenge, Freeman, and Campbell, “Effect of Social Networking Websites.”

  I reviewed the research literature: J. M. Twenge, “Does Online Social Media Lead to Social Connection or Social Disconnection?,” Journal of College and Character 14 (2013): 11–20.

  For example, one study had students ask: M. A. Stefanone, K. H. Kwon, and D. Lackaff, “Exploring the Relationship between Perceptions of Social Capital and Enacted Support Online,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 17 (2012): 451–66.

  Another study examined whether: N. Park, K. F. Kee, and S. Valenzuela, “Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment: Facebook Groups, Uses and Gratifications, and Social Outcomes,” Cyberpsychology and Behavior 12 (2009): 729–33.

  A third study, conducted: J. Vitak, P. Zube, A. Smock, C. T. Carr, N. Ellison, and C. Lampe, “It’s Complicated: Facebook Users’ Political Participation in the 2008 Election,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 14 (2011): 107–14.

  3. You Can Be Anything You Want to Be

  “proving,” as Luke Epplin observes: Luke Epplin, “You Can Do Anything: Must Every Kids’ Movie Reinforce the Cult of Self-Esteem?,” Atlantic, August 13, 2013.

  Chris Colin notes that his classmates: Chris Colin, What Really Happened to the Class of ‘93 (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), 51.

  Alexandra Robbins and: Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties (New York: Putnam, 2001), 109.

  Lia Macko, the coauthor: Lia Macko and Kerry Rubin, Mildlife Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a New Generation—and What to Do About It (New York: Plume Penguin, 2004), v, 16.

  As Epplin observes of the kids’ movie characters: Epplin, “You Can Do Anything.”

  In 2012, 58% of high school students: J. Reynolds, M. Stewart, R. MacDonald, and L. Sischo, “Have Adolescents Become Too Ambitious? High School Seniors’ Educational and Occupational Plans, 1976 to 2000,” Social Problems 53 (2006): 186–206; and updated with Monitoring the Future datafiles.

  In The Ambitious Generation, sociologists: Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson, The Ambitious Generation: America’s Teenagers, Motivated but Directionless (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).

  In 2012, 3 out of 4 American college freshmen: American Freshman Survey datafiles.

  the number of PhDs granted each year: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2012 and earlier years. Available online at www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html.

  A Chronicle of Higher Education study found: http://collegecompletion.chronicle.com/.

  In a 2011 survey, 16-to-18-year-olds: “2011 Teens & Money Survey,” Charles Schwab, http://www.aboutschwab.com/images/press/teensmoneyfactsheet.pdf.

  Fifty-seven percent of high school seniors: J. M. Twenge and T. Kasser, “Generational Changes in Materialism and Work Centrality, 1976–2007: Associations with Temporal Changes in Societal Insecurity and Materialistic Role-Modeling,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 39 (2013): 883–97; and Monitoring the Future datafiles.

  In the 2011 survey, 59% believed: “2011 Teens & Money Survey,” Charles Schwab.

  One young employee told: Claire Raines and Jim Hunt, The Xers and the Boomers (Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Publications, 2000), 25.

  Emily, 22, says that if: Robbins and Wilner, Quarterlife Crisis, 83.

  Quarterlife Crisis does discuss: Ibid., 76.

  Jeffrey Arnett, author: Ibid.

  “In the past, people got married”: Lev Grossman, “Grow Up? Not So Fast,” Time, January 24, 2005.

  GenMe marries later: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2004 and earlier years, www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html.

  Only 20% of today’s adults ages 18 to 29: Paul Taylor, The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown (New York: Public Affairs, 2014).

&nbs
p; “I want to get married”: Grossman, “Grow Up?”

  A recent study found: W. Bleidorn, T. Klimstra, J. Denissen, P. Rentfrow, J. Potter, and S. Gosling, “Personality Maturation around the World—a Cross-Cultural Examination of Social Investment Theory (unpublished manuscript, 2013).

  Arnett describes Albert: Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Emerging Adulthood (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 158.

  Adrianne, 16, dreamed: Bob Meadows, “This Teen Wanted to Be Popular. Did That Lead to Her Murder?,” People, February 14, 2005.

  “My big goal is to have”: Bill Hewitt, “Wearing Out Their Bodies?,” People, June 13, 2005.

  Former Hollywood producer Elisabeth Robinson: Elisabeth Robinson, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters (New York: Back Bay Books, 2004), 19.

  Cowell chided him: American Idol, FOX, January 27, 2004.

  In a later interview with Star magazine: Jennifer Birn, Joyce Hogan, and Maggie Kim, “Introducing William Hung: Untrained, Uncensored, Unstoppable!,” Star, March 1, 2004; and www.williamhung.net/wst_page16.html.

  TV critic James Poniewozik noted: James Poniewozik, “Simon Cowell: Picking Our Winners,” Time, April 26, 2004.

  “It’s mind-boggling how”: Molly Lopez, “Chatter: False Idols,” People, February 14, 2005.

  In a 2007 survey, 51%: Sharon Jayson, “The Goal: Wealth and Fame,” USA Today, January 10, 2007.

  Use of the phrase want to be famous: Google Books database, American English corpus.

  When musician Nellie McKay was 19: “‘I’m Going to Be Famous’: Nellie McKay Makes Bid for Stardom,” cnn.com, April 13, 2004.

  “Ten years after leaving high school”: Colin, What Really Happened, 55.

  as author Carol Wallace points out: Carol McD. Wallace, All Dressed in White (New York: Penguin 2004), 278.

  One bride said, “Finally”: Ibid., 280.

  As part of my dissertation: J. M. Twenge, “Birth Cohort Changes in Extraversion: A Cross-Temporal Meta-analysis, 1966–1993,” Personality and Individual Differences 30 (2001): 735–48.

  My former student Brittany Gentile found: B. Gentile, “Birth Cohort Changes in the Big Five Personality Traits, 1985–2012” (unpublished manuscript, 2013).

  The popular school program: Charles J. Sykes, Dumbing Down Our Kids (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 42.

  The growing primacy: J. M. Twenge, “Changes in Masculine and Feminine Traits over Time: A Meta-analysis,” Sex Roles 36 (1997): 305–25; and J. M. Twenge, “Changes in Women’s Assertiveness in Response to Status and Roles: A Cross-Temporal Meta-analysis, 1931–1993,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81 (2001): 133–45.

  In the study of college students’ beliefs: J. M. Twenge, W. K. Campbell, and B. Gentile, “Generational Increases in Agentic Self-Evaluations among American College Students, 1966–2009,” Self and Identity 11 (2012), 409–27.

  Yet, as The Mommy Myth: Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels, The Mommy Myth (New York: Free Press, 2004), 306–7.

  Douglas and Michaels refer: Ibid.

  Culture Shock! USA, a guidebook: Esther Wanning, Culture Shock! USA (London: Kuperard, 1995), 70.

  One mother says she treated: Anne Remley, “From Obedience to Independence,” Psychology Today, October 1988, 56–59.

  Psychologist Bonnie Zucker, interviewed: Thomas Fields-Meyer, “Kids Out of Control,” People, December 20, 2004.

  Another mother didn’t make: Ruben Naverrette, “Parents Can’t Buy Their Children’s Respect,” Dallas Morning News, November 28, 2004.

  Writer Martin Booe recently: Martin Booe, “Generation Me-Me-Me,” Jackson Free Press, October 21, 2004.

  educational psychologist Michele Borba: Ibid.

  Douglas and Michaels argue: Douglas and Michaels, Mommy Myth, 307–8.

  Paula Peterson’s two kids: Fields-Meyer, “Kids Out of Control.”

  We gain self-esteem: A. Aron, M. Paris, and E. N. Aron, “Falling in Love: Prospective Studies of Self-Concept Change,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 1102–12; and M. R. Leary et al., “Self-Esteem as an Interpersonal Monitor: The Sociometer Hypothesis,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68 (1995): 518–30.

  Study after study shows: David Myers, The Pursuit of Happiness (New York: Morrow, 1992).

  Research by Sandra Murray: S. L. Murray et al., “Through the Looking Glass Darkly? When Self-Doubts Turn into Relationship Insecurities,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75 (1998): 1459–80.

  narcissists—people who really love themselves: W. Keith Campbell, When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself (Chicago: Sourcebooks, 2005); and W. K. Campbell, “Narcissism and Romantic Attraction,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (1999): 1254–70.

  They think they are better: W. K. Campbell, E. A. Rudich, and C. Sedikides, “Narcissism, Self-Esteem, and the Positivity of Self-Views: Two Portraits of Self-Love,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002): 358–68.

  “If I were to name the top ten”: W. Keith Campbell, interview, December 28, 2004.

  In a cross-temporal meta-analysis: S. H. Konrath, W. J. Chopik, C. K. Hsing, and E. O’Brien, “Changes in Adult Attachment Styles in American College Students over Time: A Meta-analysis,” Personality and Social Psychology Review (2014), DOI: 10.1177/1088868314530516.

  One young woman, interviewed in the book Flux: Peggy Orenstein, Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World (New York: Doubleday 2000), 73.

  In an analysis of data from 47,692 respondents: J. M. Twenge, W. K. Campbell, and C. A. Foster, “Parenthood and Marital Satisfaction: A Meta-analytic Review,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 65 (2003): 574–83.

  When People magazine interviewed: “Facing Off over Plastic Surgery,” People, October 18, 2004.

  Thirty-eight percent of GenMe: Taylor, The Next America.

  In a survey of 766 college students: J. Greif, W. Hewitt, and M. L. Armstrong, “Tattooing and Body Piercing,” Clinical Nursing Research 8 (1999): 368–85.

  In 1967, when the Boomers: J. M. Twenge, W. K. Campbell, and E. C. Freeman. “Generational Differences in Young Adults’ Life Goals, Concern for Others, and Civic Orientation, 1966–2009,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 102 (2012): 1045–62; and updates from the American Freshman database.

  high school students are now more likely: Twenge and Kasser, “Generational Changes in Materialism.”

  College kids spend $50 billion a year: Ashley Lutz, “The Average College Student Is Spending a Record $907 on Dorm Décor,” Business Insider, September 4, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/average-spending-on-dorm-decor-skyrockets-2012-9.

  “She’s a very good girl”: Nancy Jeffrey, “Proms Gone Wild!,” People, May 30, 2005.

  A recent survey found that the average: Erik Ortiz, “Prom Gets Pricier for Average US Family Spending More Than $1,000 for the Night,” New York Daily News, May 4, 2012.

  In his survey of 18-to-23-year-olds: C. Smith, K. Christoffersen, H. Davison, and P. S. Herzog. Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  A Sears ad for girls’ clothing: John de Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor, Affluenza (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2002), 55.

  A young woman in Smith’s survey put it this way: Smith et al., Lost in Transition.

  “I want to do things that conform”: “Notebook,” Time, June 6, 2005.

  The coffee choices at Starbucks: S. Waldman, “The Tyranny of Choice: Why the Consumer Revolution Is Ruining Your Life,” New Republic, January 27, 1992.

  “Shopping, like everything else”: David Brooks, Bobos in Paradise (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 101.

  “Years ago, cell phones”: Ken Belson, “I Want to Be Alone. Please Call Me,” New York Times, June 27, 2004.

  4. The Age of Anxiety (and Depression, and Loneliness): Generation Stressed

  Only 1% to 2% of Americans born: R. C. Kessler, P. Berg
lund, O. Demler, R. Jin, K. R. Merikangas, and E. E. Walters, “Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication,” Archives of General Psychiatry 62 (2005): 593–602; L. N. Robins, et al., “Lifetime Prevalence of Specific Psychiatric Disorders in Three Sites,” Archives of General Psychiatry 41 (1984): 949–58; G. L. Klerman and M. M. Weissman, “Increasing Rates of Depression,” Journal of the American Medical Association 261, no. 15 (1989): 2229–35; P. M. Lewinsohn et al., “Age-Cohort Changes in Lifetime Occurrence of Depression and Other Mental Disorders,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102, no. 1 (1993): 110–20; P. J. Wickramaratne et al., “Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on the Risk of Major Depression: Results from Five United States Communities,” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 42, no. 4 (1989): 333–43; and R. C. Kessler et al., “Lifetime and 12-Month Prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Study,” Archives of General Psychiatry 51 (1994): 8–19.

  In past generations, suicide: Klerman and Weissman, “Increasing Rates of Depression”; and Jane M. Murphy, “The Stirling County Study: Then and Now,” International Review of Psychiatry 6 (1994): 329–48.

  One out of 10 Americans took: L. A. Pratt, D. J. Brody, and Q. Gu, “Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008,” National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief 76 (October 2011).

  At the Kansas State University: Sherry A. Benton et al., “Changes in Counseling Center Client Problems Across 13 Years,” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 34 (2003): 66–72. For a nontechnical review, see Sue Shellenbarger, “Workers Struggle with Kids’ Depression,” Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2003.

  A 2010 study found: J. C. Guthman, L. Locin, and D. D. Konstas, “Increase in Severity of Mental Illness among Clinical College Students: A 12-Year Comparison” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, August 2010).

  In a nationwide survey of teens: “Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey,” http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm.