Three Interesting Studies of Millennials and Gen Zers
New generational studies have hit the wire, and journalists have begun to file reports on trends among Gen Zers and Millennials. Here are three notable surveys that hit the web recently.
Seven in Ten Millennials Reportedly Give
Emily Haynes of The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that Millennial evangelicals are quite generous, with 68% responding that they make annual gifts to charity.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Millennials are struggling financially when compared to other generations at similar life stage. But a willingness and ability to give philanthropically continues to persist among Millennials, particularly those affiliated with evangelical Christianity.
In 2018, Forbes reported that Millennials were very generous when compared to their parents’ generation, and while they didn’t yet give as much money as their parents, the trend then suggested they may end up being the most generous generation in history.
Why? Millennials have greater global awareness, greater connectivity in large part thanks to the internet, easier giving mechanisms through websites, text, and smartphones, and a greater understanding of what their charitable donations are capable of doing. Millennials are willing to give to causes they understand and believe in. Make your case for how your community can make a difference, and ask for their help. If Millennials are unable to donate money, they are very likely to give of their time.
Gen Zers and Millennials Embarrassed They Are Narcissistic
Keith Spencer reports for Slate that “Baby Boomers may have been dubbed the ‘Me Generation,’ but Millennials and Generation Z are the ones that are most self-absorbed — by their own admission. Indeed, while studies show that those generations openly believe that they and their peers are the most “narcissistic and entitled age-groups,” they aren’t necessarily happy about it.”
Spencer sums up the findings from a study by W. Keith Campbell and Jean Twenge that has been posted at PLOS One, an open source scientific journal. The study found that emerging generations have been shown by academics studies to be more narcissistic, emerging adults believe these studies, and that emerging adults are willing to leverage their narcissism in an effort to survive, even despite admitting narcissistic tendency are socially undesirable.
That’s a thorny bit of logic, but Spencer untangles it well, “Even if the performance of narcissism is a survival mechanism for us, and something that some see as desirable, that doesn’t mean it’s not embarrassing.” Emerging adults accept narcissism if it helps them survive in this economy, they know if they can self-aggrandize it may help them, and they are still willing to concede it’s embarrassing that they feel the need to do so.
Pessimism on the Rise Among Millennials and Gen Zers
Lastly, in a real downer of a finding, Millennials and Gen Zers have a bleak outlook on the future. Marie Patino of Bloomberg writes that for Millennials and Gen Zers, “Uneasiness and pessimism abound among the majority of the world's population.”
You can read her full write-up here.