Gen_Y

Introduction There has been evidence that over the last decade , there has been a huge increase of students in college who harassed their professors for higher grades stating that their current grade are not sufficient and has an expectation of their professors to accommodate them (Chen et. al 2007). Dr. Jean Twenge did a study on 16,400 students who took the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) between the years of 1982 and 2006. The NPI asks 40 questions that the person taking the test would choose either A or B. For example: A) I am a born leader or B) Leadership is a quality that takes a long time to develop. At the end of it, there is a key that you would or would not receive a point for your answer. The average score is 15.3 (Jayson, 2009). In 1982, only a third was over the average, within the last couple of years, it has increased to 65 % (Aspen Education, 2009). In this paper, it will show a direct correlation between how the baby-boomer parents (also know as helicopter parents) who raised this generation and the negative characteristics of Generation Y. It will also show how some people are looking at this generation in a more positive light because of some of the contributions that they are expecting them to make. The issues related to this generation have had a direct impact on the human services field due to how this population views itself as well as how they view other people. In an article by Chen, Farruggia, Greenberger and Lessard (2007) states that a sense of entitlement can cause additional maladaptive traits such as greed, lack of forgiveness, being socially problematic and increased aggression. Another issue that is causing concern is the lack of responsibility that this generation has exhibited. Due to many of their parents dealing with issues for them, they have not had a need to take responsibility, especially financially. A study done by Adler, Barry, Frick and Grafeman (2006), has found that narcissism is directly related to aggression and other conduct issues in young adults which then can lead to more undesirable characteristics as adults such as antisocial personality disorder. Burkett (2004) based an article on a study of fifty-six consecutive admissions into a adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit that were evaluated for narcissistic traits and cormorbid disorders by being assessed with The Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents and the DSM-III-R. Eighteen out of the 56 meet the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder or traits. This group also had higher amounts of depression and other personality disorders such as paranoia, passive-aggressive, borderline, histrionic and dependent. This combination makes it more difficult to treat people who have narcissistic characteristics. Million (1990, p. 356; Million & Everly 1985, p. 75) argued in his social learning framework that narcissism has a direct link to parental overindulgence and lack of discipline in children which The American Psychiatric Association (1994) characterizes the traits of narcissism as self-grandiosity, entitled, demands for excessive admiration, arrogance and a lack of empathy. Generation Y’s parents, coaches, teachers and other adult contributors to the development of this generation’s narcissism and sense of entitlement was originally done to help influence positive characteristics in children. Dr. Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University and author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Then Ever Before” states that in the movement of the 1980’s to help children build their self-esteem has basically created a generation of narcissistic and entitled monsters. By giving everyone on the baseball team a trophy just because they are on the team detracts the child from trying to do something to actually earn a trophy. In essence, they learned that they are able to do nothing for something.