Narcissism is a natural stage not unique to today’s young people, concludes a recent study published in the February issue of Psychological Science.
According to the study’s lead author, Western psychology professor Kali Trzesniewski, young adults are no more narcissistic than previous generations.
Trzesniewski’s team looked at thousands of student responses to various psychological tests and questionnaires from the 1970s until the present. Over the decades, no major changes in the level of youth narcissism were evident.
Everyone goes through a self-centered stage, researchers believe.
Overall, negative traits such as superiority have diminished over the years. More positive traits, such as self-sufficiency and leadership, have actually increased.
Dr. X suggests that older generations “were extremely intolerant of any challenges to their sense of authority; I think they had more difficulty seeing the other guy’s point of view and generally assumed that the world as they conceived it was exactly how the world should be and must be.” But while they might have lorded it over their family members, they didn’t expect respect on the job. Think of Jackie Gleason’s character on The Honeymooners.
I for one am glad that the newer, more tolerant model of homo sapien has finally arrived on the scene. And, without any excess narcissism.
While I agree that narcissism may be a normal stage of growing up, it seems that the difference is that we’ve extended childhood out for a decade or more, at least in some youth. Trzesniewski ought to try giving those tests to some thirty year olds who still live in their parents’ basements.
It seems to me that kids get to their late teens these days and then go down one of two paths: some sort of adult choice (college, trade school, apprenticeship, etc) that leads to a career (distinguishing here between a career and a job) OR a path of continued childhood, either through living at home or a series of go-nowhere jobs or a combination of the two.
I think the difference from older times is that parents are loath these days to push a kid to grow up. As with other parenting decisions, they want the kid to follow their own path, rather than one set one for them. Unfortunately, no one is tasked with informing the kid of the consequences of deciding to stay a kid for another decade.
Joanne,
Exactly. The Ralph Kramden character is the portrait of this type.