MSNBC February 27, 2007
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.
Well, this study may have something. We are a culture that says self-gratification is the goal, and society be damned, in so many words. Everyone should be able to do whatever they want, from relationships to drugs, and other things. We need to feel that we ARE special and unique, but no more special or unique than anyone else. We need to understand we are all equals. Perhaps a correlation could be drawn between the increasing irreligiosity of our nation and this narcissism trend. I am by no means qualified to make such a statement, but am simply speculating.