This week's article summary is America's Youth Today.]
As the article points out, today’s youth have many positive attributes: they are smart (as measured by IQ tests), possess self-control and self-regulation, are hard-working and industrious, and exhibit compassion and empathy for others.
Nevertheless, today’s youth have struggles, resulting from internal and external pressures.
First, they are physically and emotionally exhausted due to their (and often their parents’) ambitious college and career goals. My high school senior class had 80 students. Our academic pecking order was well defined and accepted: a few really good students, a few who really struggled, and a group of middle of the bell curve kids. I was a middle kid and was fine getting mostly B’s, a few As, and an occasional ‘Please see me’ note from a teacher. Today with weighted grades, most GPAs are well above 4.0 and college applications demand much more extracurricular activities, particularly in service learning. Getting into a competitive college is much more daunting than when I applied. The article’s author refers to today’s youth as being ‘overwhelmed’, especially with getting into the ‘right’ college.
This leads to their second challenge: today’s youth are less confident and assured. Think back to the past generations when the emphasis for most kids was personal fulfillment and happiness. The jobs were there; it was more about finding the right fit. My parents wanted me to work hard, be nice, and become successful, yet they allowed me the latitude to chart my own path and find my professional calling. I always felt I had time to find my niche and an occupation that provided me both fulfillment and financial security. That’s not the case today with so much more competition and more limited opportunities.
And finally, today’s youth are far less trusting and more pessimistic about the future. Think about the competitiveness within the global economy, the seemingly hopelessness of environmental issues like global warming, and America’s diminishing influence as a world political and economic power. There were certainly issues when I was a kid, particularly fear of nuclear war, yet the future right now appears more uncertain than ever.
The author recommends that we adults help today’s youth by trying to redirect their priorities, perspectives, and attitudes.
As we at Trinity shape our students’ character, we can further help them be strong, confident, positive, well-rounded, and, most important to me, carefree. My hope is that the foundational work we do in these elementary-school years will equip our students with the fortitude to handle the myriad challenges they’ll face.
There’s so much good in today’s youth, yet it’s incumbent upon us to help them combat the negative feelings the article lists.
Joe
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“The worst part is that they don’t care what people — their mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts — think of them. They haven’t any sense of shame, honor or duty… they don’t care about anything except pleasure.”
What are today’s young people like compared to young people in the past? We often hear stereotypes about American teenagers and young adults, and the above quote feels fresh, even though it was written about flappers in 1926. You can find similar views about the wayward ways of youth as far back as 700 BCE in Ancient Greece.
Older generations tend to stereotype recent generations of young people, questioning their intelligence and self-control and calling them lazy, selfish, and uncaring.
In her book, Unfairly Labeled, Jessica Kriegel argues that, as with other stereotypes, generational stereotypes are harmful and unfair.
I’m a social scientist who has been following generational trends in the psychological traits of young Americans for most of my career. So, what does this research say about young people in recent years?
First, recent generations of young Americans are not less intelligent than earlier generations. The evidence, in fact, suggests the opposite: There have been consistent increases in IQ scores in the past century (three points per decade in the U.S.), which is known as the Flynn Effect. This indicates that younger generations of Americans perform better on standardized measures of intelligence.
How about self-control? Are today’s young people more prone to instant gratification than those in the past? Quite the opposite. Indeed, two recent studies found that today’s children are able to wait longer for rewards than children in previous decades.
Another common stereotype about younger generations of Americans is that they are lazier than previous generations. Yet, recent generations of American children have been in school for more of their lives, for more hours per week, with more jam-packed schedules, and with less free play, than earlier generations. Young people today are anything but lazy: They are working more and having less unstructured leisure time.
As for narcissism and empathy, my previous research found that narcissism was increasing and empathy was declining between the late 1970s and 2008. However, new research has found that these trends dramatically reversed after the Great Recession, with a decrease in narcissism and increase in empathy among young Americans since then. People tend to turn to others during times of economic crisis.
Overall, when examining these trends, it looks like the kids are good — in terms of both their competence and their moral compass. They are increasing in intelligence and self-control, and at least since the 2008-2009 recession, they are becoming less narcissistic and more empathic.
But are the kids okay? In my forthcoming book, Culture of Burnout: American Life in an Age of Increasing Expectations, I provide evidence that young Americans have been showing increased burnout symptoms over time.
The first symptom of burnout is emotional exhaustion. Younger generations have been reporting higher stress, compared to older generations. . They have also reported feeling increasingly overwhelmed since the 1980s. But emotional exhaustion can go beyond stress, and recent generations of young Americans also have been showing increased mental health symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
The second symptom of burnout is cynicism, or low trust in others. There have been declines in the percentage of young Americans who agree that people are basically good and trustworthy. For example, in 1972, 32.1% of 18-25-year-old Americans reported being trusting but by 2018, only 15.4% did. This is a worrisome trend because trust is the foundation of positive relationships.
The final symptom of burnout is feelings of low accomplishment or low self-efficacy. In recent years national surveys find that American high school students are more likely to believe that the plans they make will not work out, that there are barriers to getting ahead, and that they don’t have a chance of being successful in life. These feelings are especially remarkable in light of the research that finds rising intelligence, self-control, and hard work over time.
Why are young Americans increasingly burned out? The burnout equation involve too many expectations and demands, plus too few resources and support. These increasing demands have been both internal (e.g., unrealistic educational goals and perfectionism) and external (e.g., the rising cost and competition of college and stagnant wages).
Relative to previous generations, today’s American young people are intelligent, able to delay their gratification, and cooperative and caring. Yet, they are trying very hard to meet the increasing expectations for success in our society, only to find themselves exhausted, frustrated at the doors slamming in their faces, and minimizing their accomplishments, since they don’t seem to pay off. Burnout is an understandable response to an untenable situation: It is a forced halt to the rat race.
What are some potential solutions to increasing burnout? We need to flip the burnout equation: decrease expectations and demands on young people, while also providing more resources and support. This needs to come from many different sources, ranging from educational institutions to workplaces to government policies. In terms of the latter, policies can focus on either limiting the winner-take-all economy or providing opportunities and subsidies that help offset the rising costs of trying to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive environment.
Unfortunately, burnout itself is a demoralizing force, making it less likely that groups of young people will rise up and fight the system. So, older generations need to fight it on their behalf, and young people need to reclaim rest, rejuvenation, and revitalization.
Engaging in burnout buffers can help restore energy levels in order to rethink and retool the world we live in. Most of them are free or inexpensive, whether taking a hike or bike ride in nature, spending quality time with friends, or creating or enjoying some sort of art — basically, anything that is done for the sake of enjoyment alone, without an economic benefit. Make Love, Not War was the mantra of 1960s youth, and perhaps we need a new one today: Make Love, Not Work.
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