Study finds alarming rise in narcissism in "Generation Me"

[shrike]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17349066/?GT1=9033

College students think they're so special
Study finds alarming rise in narcissism, self-centeredness in ‘Generation Me’

NEW YORK - Today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.

“We need to stop endlessly repeating ‘You’re special’ and having children repeat that back,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. “Kids are self-centered enough already.”

Twenge and her colleagues, in findings to be presented at a workshop Tuesday in San Diego on the generation gap, examined the responses of 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.

snip

The researchers describe their study as the largest ever of its type and say students’ NPI scores have risen steadily since the current test was introduced in 1982. By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982.



I'm curious what others think of this. I don't know if it's so much a rise in narcissistic people as the rise of a narcissistic culture. i.e., a culture which encourages, rewards self-absorption.

You can even see it in the so-called reality shows: contestants encouraged to talk about me, me, me, what I want, what I'm going to do.

But I'd say that I've met narcissists of all ages, from up and down the economic spectrum.

[XemaSab]

1. Like, OMG, young people these days are like, the worst EVER!

They're like, totally failing to live up to the standards set by the baby boomers! It's, like, tragic!

/sarcasm

[bryant69]

3. There is something hysterical in Baby Booms complaining about

another generations narcissism.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[originalpckelly]

5. Yeah, I know.

If the Babyboomers are upset that the Echoboomers are selfish, they have no one else to blame but themselves.

[Skidmore]

17. Oy........

[SoCalDem]

34. MARKETING firms thought we were "special"..MEDIA portrayed us as special

but I'll tell you this.. At every step of our lives, our sheer numbers made for horrendous competition, so any feeling of "speciality" was pretty quickly quashed.

Many boomers were part of large families, and had responsibilities that a lot of pampered "children-of-boomers" never had..

Most boom-kids I grew up with never even had color TV, or a car of their own, or access to money that did not involve a lawn mower, a dirty car or a screaming baby, they did not have their own phones (or much access to the ONE phone in the home), they never had a dishwasher, and many actually did kitchen duty every day..

I never felt "special", nor did any of the boomers I knew..

[grasswire]

2. extremely interesting, thanks

We all should know the difference between narcissistic people and narcissists. Narcissists suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and meet certain diagnostic criteria. Narcissistic people have certain vain/selfish traits, to a lesser degree. I pity anyone in any kind of partnership with either, having survived a marriage to an NPD-er.

[originalpckelly]

4. Yeah, and what generation is running up a national debt at record levels again?

Are those college kids responsible for that?

[sinkingfeeling]

8. It ain't a generation running it up, it's a GOP mal-administration.

[originalpckelly]

18. Yeah, bullshit. Someone had to vote for these people somewhere...

2000 was in doubt, but '04 wasn't.

This nation is responsible for Bush, and the people currently in charge in vast numbers are the Babyboomers.

Selfish bastards, all they care about is a fucking tax cut at the expense of their children. Such a fucking lazy generation. Who steals from their children?

[loudsue]

26. 2004 wasn't in doubt? Where have YOU been?

2004 was despicable. You need to head over to the elections forum for a little updating.

2004 was even contested by CONGRESS. First time that happened in over 100 years.

:kick::kick::kick:

on edit: Check out this thread....


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x294166


:kick::kick::kick:

[carolinayellowdog]

28. Stereotyping and scapegoating is evil regardless

of whether it's based on race, gender, sexual orientation, social class, nationality, region, or GENERATION. When you use a very broad category to sweepingly condemn and blame all members of said category while absolving all non-members of it, you're misdirecting your anger.

This us/them hostility toward a large generational group is way off base. A recent study showed party affiliation by generation. Those born in 1953, as I was, had the highest proportion of Democratic affiliation of any group over 25. The highest Republican affiliation is very clearly among gen-Xers, not boomers:

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=750

(Scroll down to party affiliation by age)

[sinkingfeeling]

31. You're always on this kick about Babyboomers, aren't you? Well, why don't

we compare the generations (although I can only guess at your age). The percentage of 'boomers' who have served in the military is much greater than all other generations with the exception of those older than 70 (WWII & Korean War vets). The amount of money paid in federal income taxes and Social Security by those in their 50s through 60s. I'd be willing to pull up any of my income tax forms from the years 1965 through 2006 and we can take a look at what was paid by income levels. I know for a fact that as a single mother in the 1970's, I not only didn't get to deduct child care expenses, but there wasn't any friggin' child tax credit either. When my kid, now 37, attended private school for a few years, there were no 'vouchers' nor any type of government assistance for the tuition. There was no deduction for college expenses nor for paying off student loans.

Your statements condemning boomers could be turned around to your generation, i.e., "All they care about is getting things for their kids and getting the government to subsidize their having kids. Let the the taxpayers make up the differences or just 'charge it' to the government's running debt."

So, I guess you didn't vote in either 2000 nor 2004. Most 'boomers' did and they didn't vote for Bush.

"In addition to its lead among older Americans (those age 65 and older), the Democratic party holds a clear edge among the early Baby Boomers ­ people in their middle 40s to late 50s.

But younger Baby Boomers and those in Generation X (roughly ages 30-44) are somewhat more Republican."

[RC Quake]

6. And here I thought my nephew's narcissism was because

he is a Republican going to USC. Huh. It's just the generation. Go figure.

[demrabble]

7. Here's An Example

Here's an example of extreme narcissism that is being discussed here on DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x299103

Total disregard for other people.

Laughing about abusing other people.

[originalpckelly]

19. So if one person does something wrong, then immediately everyone...

agrees with it?

[demrabble]

23. Reading Comprehension 101

"Here is an example."

An = ONE.

I did not say that "immediately everyone agress with it".

Anticipating your grateful thanks for an mini-education in reading comprehension, I remain,

demrabble

[Fresh_Start]

9. Are they worse than GOP faithful?

That would difficult to imagine.

[SmokingJacket]

10. It's definitely not just college students.

They used college students as an easily studied group, but it's everywhere.

And I don't think the problem is so much that kids are taught that they're "special": kids see through that in a minute -- if a bunch of kids are in a room singing "I Am Special" it's obviously absurd.

The real problem is that they're not taught to think about others. This has been a hobbyhorse of mine for years. Empathy doesn't always come naturally or easily -- it takes imagination and some real discomfort to put yourself in another's shoes.

Anyway, narcissism breeds narcissism -- kids become self-absorbed not because their parents are absorbed in them, but because their parents are self-absorbed.

[demrabble]

14. Do You Mean That......

Do you really mean that it is NOT all about ME?

I thought I was the Center of the Entire Universe.

You mean to suggest that I am NOT?

[laundry_queen]

21. Bingo.

kids become self-absorbed not because their parents are absorbed in them, but because their parents are self-absorbed.

You hit the nail on the head with this one.
I also agree the big huge problem is empathy. My mother would always sit me down when I did something mean to someone and draw up an elaborate story with ME in it as the victim and ask me how I would feel (and make me describe it!). I usually ended up in tears crying and apologizing when I realized how my actions made others feel. My mother was very big on empathy. I do the same with my kids. Too many parents don't know how, or don't take the time to. Kids also need to be SHOWN empathy to be able to understand it.

[TahitiNut]

35. That sounds like good parenting to me.

In nurturing compassion and empathy in a (naturally self-absorbed) child, the parent not only assists in a maturational process where our infantile self-absorption morphs into healthy self-esteem but pays homage to that self-esteem by showing developmental respect for the child's abilities in that direction. Too many parents (imho) rely on a "sink or swim" theory of parenting, using a system of rewards and punishments without nurturing and fertilizing empathic and 'out-focused' thinking and depending on reactive approaches rather than responsive ones.

[Sequoia]

11. But wasn't the 1980s known as the "ME" generation?

[Kelly Rupert]

27. Yeah, but now that the baby boom is growing old,

the generation of sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, and Reaganista greed inherits the traditional complaints of the aged--being first and foremost the morality of the younger generation, no matter how ironic this may seem to all other parties.

[Bandit]

12. What does anyone expect when we live in a Me Me Me Me society

It is preached daily on all Conservative outlets..They scoff at "It takes a village" and promote it's all about Me Me Me Me....No taxes, screw society, Me Me Me...

[Johonny]

13. Narcissistic Personality Inventory

You know I really want to believe the test can measure the amount of narcissism a person has but... OK I don't believe the test can possibly measure this quanity in an meaningful way. The whole thing sounds silly.

[napi21]

15. I agree with YOU! It's been cultivated in the culture for quite a few

years now. I suspect it began with the idea that children have low selfesteem and we need to FIX THAT! Well, they fixed it alright! Of course, like everything else, we went too far! We now seem to have asociety who not only think they're GREAT, but want everything instantly, andbelieve they deserve it too!

Yes, I'm old! I can't forget the years when I had 10 cents in my wallet and payday was 3 days away. I used to buy a monthly bus pass so I always knew I could get to and from work. We had ONE car! We ONLY went out to eat to celebrate our aniversary, and the kids thought it was a BIG DEAL if we took them to "Winkeys" (a fast food place that's been out of business for years), and they only got that chance once every 3 or 4 months at the most!

NOW, my grandkids don't understand WHY, once in a while, their Dad says NO when they whine for every new toy they see on TV, argue about which fast food place they're going to go for lunch, and can recognize the eating place just by seeing the decor' on a TV news spot!

[Skidmore]

20. Hear, hear!

I just had a conversation recently with my daughter about exactly how "precious" my 5-year-old grandson isn't sometimes and pointed out to her that he wouldn't be permanently scarred for life if he were disappointed in his expectations now and then. I also pointed out to her that she survived nicely with not having every whim fulfilled and her ego is well intact inspite of having run into a few brick walls with Mom over the years.

We are not our children's best friends. We are their parents.

[SmokingJacket]

16. They compared students to students in earlier years, not to

other age-groups.

That headline is stupid and irresponsible. It implies that college students are MORE narcissistic than other age groups, but the study doesn't say that at all.

[Johonny]

36. either way

All the results say is that students today behave in a way that tends to obtain higher scores on these Narcissism tests. However I REALLY doubt you can measure narcissim as an absolute number in any meaningful way. Once again I find the whole concept a little silly.

[bbgrunt]

22. Whether cause or result, the rise of the right wing politics certainly

has exeacerbated this tendency. The emphasis on self and "greed is good" and "taxes are bad" and the whole ideology just plays into this mind set. Add to that the technology of computers and televisions which have had a significant impact on communal sensitivities and you've got a culture that, like the acceleration of carbon in the atmosphere due to warming itself, just keeps this whole brew boiling at accelerating rates.

[MamaBear]

24. Maybe it's a measure of their isolation.

Maybe it would be interesting to go back and study how much face-to-face interaction they get with friends, parents, other adults. How much time do they spend with other people -- where one learns to consider the feelings of others. How much of their childhood was structured into organized activities and playdates?

Also, they studied college students but didn't say if these were public or private colleges. Is economic status a factor here?

This study raises as many questions as it answers, unless, of course, you're just in the mood to bash somebody. :eyes:

[BluePatriot]

40. *nods*

Technology can be isolating. Maybe the younger set (like myself) doesn't develop empathy as readily due to not connecting with others face-to-face as often? (cellphones, email, internet)

[Kelly Rupert]

25. "Kids these days are so awful, not at all like Our Generation. Our Generation

was awesome. Much better than these kids." :eyes:

[Edweird]

29. And the next generation is even worse.....

My wife used to work in the children's section of a major bookseller. Parents would come and drop their children off as if it was some kind of daycare. They would even leave the store. Not just 1 parent, but about 80% of them did this. These "precious little ones" would run around and destroy this store. Tearing pages out of books, opening sealed boxes (i.e.games and collectibles) and strewing the contents far and wide, writing and marking in books, and generally causing mayhem. Did these parent return and pay for what their "little angels" destroyed? No. These parents didn't (and don't) show the slightest concern about the behavior of their children. No responsibility whatsoever. What kind of citizens will these children be? Their parents don't seem to be aware of others. And they don't care about anything that isn't theirs. It's only going to get worse.

[shance]

30. Its a great way to destroy a society - disconnect everyone from each other

make them think they are the center of their universe.

Do you think its just an accident this has been done by the media and other power moguls to our culture and our society.

Methinks not.

Watch From Freedom to Fascism.

[greenman3610]

32. tom wolfe wrote "The ME Generation" in, what, 1975?

Christopher Lasch, "The Culture of Narcissism" right about that time.

Right wingers decry the "selfishness" of working mothers-
while the greatest narcissist since Nero occupies the white house...

[OneBlueSky]

33. "I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me." . . . Stuart Smalley . . . n/t

.

[Zookeeper]

37. Perhaps smaller families and more only children....

contributes to a lack of connectedness and empathy for others. (I'm an only-child, BTW.)

Also, more and more recreational activities are "single-player" instead of community activities. When kids spend their time watching TV or playing video and computer games, they control everything. No sharing or compromise is necessary.

[MilesColtrane]

38. These kids are just a reflection of a society that, for the most part, can...

...simply turn it's head at 60,000+ dead civilians and go shopping.

We, as a nation, have no real feeling for the pain, death, and misery being inflicted in our name.

[sakabatou]

39. O RLY?