The Most Stressed Out Generation

I spoke to a friend on the phone this morning whom I haven't seen since my wedding. We were talking about kids (he and his wife have one), the cost of housing (they live in Boston, we live in San Francisco) and how basically the cost of childcare and paying a mortgage in these cities can be deterrent to people deciding to have a second child (we haven't had our first yet!). I also just finished reading Generation Me by Jean Twenge (who I recently interviewed for the white paper I'm working on).

One of Dr. Twenge's big arguments is that Gen Me was raised on self esteem, told they could be whatever they wanted to be, and fed lots of pop culture focusing on the "Fabulous Lives of Celebrities" as well as biopics based on true stories like "Rudy" or "The Pursuit of Happyness" where the message is "you can be whatever you want to be if you never give up." So Gen Me has grown up believing in the American Dream and wanting to be rich and famous yet the reality is that it's not going to happen for many of us — heck, even becoming a D List reality TV star is competitive! And yes, there is the internet, but not every dork with a Web cam will garner the buzz that Justin.tv has gotten or make the gigantic leap from YouTube to network television. Our cultural emphasis on this type of success in a time when top colleges are harder to get into, the cost of college and amount of debt is enormous and keeps rising, and finding a job that pays well, has benefits, and is also fulfilling is also tough is creating Generation Stress. That's someone's next book title I'm sure. But the gap between our expectations and reality is causing lots of anxiety for young people.

I also think Twenge makes some great points about Generation Me being reluctant to move beyond our own personal misery about these financial stressers (housing, child care, college debt, family leave, health insurance) and join together to try and effect political change around these issues.

I stumbled upon this press release from The N with some highlights from their Millennial Values Study. I think the second and third bullet points speak to this discrepancy between "The American Dream" and the economic realities for this generation. I also found it fascinating that they have low generational self esteem. It's ironic that despite all of the praise and emphasis on being ourselves and increasing individual self esteem, collectively, young people see this as a negative.

- The #1 issue that concerns the Millennials is their personal safety (81%). Crime/Violence, Terrorism and the War in Iraq rank high among their concerns. These issues rank above the economy and the environment and far above other "popular" social issues. Concern for personal safety may reflect generalized anxiety in a generation growing up between 9/11 and the War in Iraq.

- Stress is a key truth for Young Americans. Nearly half of all young people feel their stress level is "very high" or "high." Young Americans also believe they are dealing with a more competitive, stressful and complicated world than their parents' generation. The greatest source of stress is their future, including pressure to get into a good college, to get a good job and to make money.

* Girls are significantly more stressed than boys and almost 60% of teens report they are more stressed today than they were two years ago.

- The "American Dream" is alive and well. Two out of three Young Americans believe America is the land of opportunity and anyone can be successful regardless of their background.

* Boys are inclined to be more patriotic and isolationist than girls.

- Millennials exhibit a mixture of traditional and progressive values and describe their generation as more open-minded and tolerant than previous generations. Teens and young adults have "traditional values" such as family orientation and religion, but also "untraditional" values such as open-mindedness, diversity and technological obsession.

* Compared to their parents' generation, two out of three believe they are much more tolerant toward different ethnicities and cultures. They also believe they are more accepting of different sexual orientations.

- Millennials have low generational self-esteem. Almost half surveyed described their own generation as "lazy" and "materialistic." And while more than one third described their generation as "self-absorbed," less than one quarter believe they are "socially conscious."

- Millennials exhibit strong familial relationships and bonds. Seven in ten are "satisfied" with their family life three out of four place a high degree of importance on being close to their parents and siblings.

* Interestingly the oldest segment of young people, 22-24 year-olds, are most satisfied with their family life.

- Religion is important to about 50% of the Millennials, with one in three claiming it is "very" important and over half say it's "very" or "somewhat" important.

* Religion is more important to girls, African Americans and Hispanics and younger teens.

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