“Generation Me”

Does “Generation Me” really exist? Due to work led by Professor Jean Twenge, author of the bestselling book Generation Me, this term, which refers to millennials who were born in the 1980s and 1990s, has been widely accepted by the public.

According to Twenge’s work, young individuals are experiencing the so-called “Narcissism Epidemic”—meaning that they are more narcissistic, entitled and self-inflated than older individuals. These conclusions were based on a series of studies.

Over the past two decades, two significant issues were found with these studies: 1) the samples used in these studies were not generalizable to larger populations, and 2) the narcissism measurements used and conclusions drawn were disputed. I break down these issues below.

Issue 1: Generalizability

Many researchers argued that the samples used in Twenge’s studies were not necessarily nationally representative, but rather were convenience samples. (A convenience sample is a sample that consists of people who are easy to reach, in this case, 4-year college student samples.)

When using a convenience sample to represent all young Americans today, the results can be dangerously biased. Many follow-up studies failed to replicate Twenge et al.’s results using more nationally representative samples, and no difference in college students’ narcissistic levels was found over time.

Issue 2: Narcissism measurements

Another issue with Twenge et al.’s conclusion is found in the narcissism measurement used in these studies—known as the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)—and how we interpret those measurements.

Put simply, NPI determines individual narcissistic levels by asking participants to answer 40 questions. Each question had a narcissistic and a non-narcissistic response. The answers were tallied, and the total tally revealed an individual’s narcissism score. These 40 questions can be classified into seven categories:

1. Leadership/authority
2. Self-sufficiency
3. Superiority
4. Exhibitionism
5. Exploitativeness
6. Vanity
7. Entitlement

However, not all categories contain socially toxic traits. Some, like authority and self-sufficiency, are even seen as socially desirable. Therefore, the changes in NPI scores, albeit small, can be affected by the desirable traits rather than the toxic traits.

Meanwhile, as organizations have emphasized the importance of one’s leadership skills during the hiring process in the past decade, leadership/authority and self-sufficiency can be more desirable nowadays than they were in the past. Therefore, choosing NPI items that fall into these categories should not necessarily carry the negative connotation that the term narcissist does for today’s youth. Further, whether or not NPI can accurately measure narcissism has constantly been questioned by social/personality psychology researchers. We must be more cautious when drawing conclusions based on this measure.

In summary, the findings in Generation Me are based on controversial research results. It is fairly inaccurate to stereotype the millennial generation as arrogant, narcissistic, unruly and entitled without well-supported evidence. Yet, many will continue to spew rhetoric that society will be overrun by this “Narcissism Epidemic” instead of trying to find possible meaningful ways of managing and working with young adults from “Generation Me.”