Contrary to what most people may believe, a recent study has found that baby boomers are more sensitive than millennials.
Baby boomers have been getting quite a lot of attention recently.
If you have been on the internet at all recently then you have probably seen someone either using or arguing about someone else using the phrase ‘Ok boomer…”
Well, a new study has found that despite what the internet’s narrative may suggest, baby boomers have more delicate egos than millennials.
The study was conducted by Michigan State University.
The Michigan State University study was published on Science Daily and has been causing quite a stir online.
Specifically, the study looked into narcissistic tendencies, and was the longest and largest study on narcissism to date, looking at how it changes over time.
The study analyzed the “narrative in our culture that generations are getting more and more narcissistic”
Associate professor of psychology at MSU and lead author, William Chopik, explained that although society believes that generations are getting more narcissistic, “no one has ever looked at it throughout generations or how it varies with age at the same time”.
The study also defined the qualities of narcissism as, “being full of yourself, sensitive to criticism and imposing your opinion on others”.
Around 750 people were interviewed, from the ages of 13-77.
Each person received a rating from 1 to 5 on how strong their narcissistic qualities were. The study found that narcissistic tendencies “decline over time and with age”, while “high aspirations for yourself” increased with age.
They found that this was due to reaching milestones altering your perspective on the world.
Chopik explained, “There are things that happen in life that can shake people a little bit and force them to adapt their narcissistic qualities.
“As you age, you form new relationships, have new experiences, start a family and so on. All of these factors make someone realize that it’s not ‘all about them.’ And, the older you get, the more you think about the world that you may leave behind.”
However, millennials still demonstrated less narcissism than boomers would have at that age.
Chopik explained that this had been the most “surprising” finding from the investigation.
He wrote, “contrary to what many people think — individuals who were born earlier in the century started off with higher levels of hyper-sensitivity, or the type of narcissism where people are full of themselves, as well as willfulness, which is the tendency to impose opinions on others.”
The reason for boomer’s increased narcissism may be due to the conditions in which they grew up.
Though he admitted that there is less information on the baby boomer generation than they would have liked for their study, Chopik suggested that the baby boomer’s political situation during their upbringing may be to blame.
“Baby boomers may be more narcissistic than other generations because they grew up in a time when the government provided privileges like social security,” he told Insider .
With the current state of the relationship between millennials and boomers, the study did not go down well.
The above tweet gained substantial negative backlash online due to its insensitive nature. However, it is far from an isolated instance of someone comparing the term “boomer” to racially sensitive terms. Responses to the study have varied widely online, with some such responses being:
“Wow, I can’t believe that the people who scream at cashiers for not honoring their year-old coupon would be overly sensitive.”
“Is it just me or are they the rudest too? I only worked in customer service for a month and I’ve never had so many old ladies yell at me, and I was raised by my grandma.”
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However, some remained neutral, “As a Millennial, I remain skeptical.”
There have also been those simply calling for people to get along.
One tweet that spoke quite a bit of sense about the whole furious arguing between generations was: “I think everyone is pretty sensitive & maybe we should just all be nice to each other.”
However, this went pretty heavily under the radar as any comment section relating to this study quickly descended into people calling each other “snowflakes” for varying reasons.
With the publication of this study, it’s likely the arguing will continue.
The internet is awash with boomers and millennials being at each other’s throats, and it doesn’t appear like there is an end in sight. Do you believe that there is any truth in this study? Or, is this topic something that cannot be boiled down with such a relatively small study sample?
h/t: Insider
