Self 101

By Brandon Bryant - Mar 6, 2007 - 1

More of today’s college students are enrolled in “Self 101” than ever before. The subject of self is so popular among this generation, Generation Y, that it has been named the most narcissistic generation to yet exist, according to a recent study from San Diego State University. Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at SDSU, conducted the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006, in which a total of 16,000 U.S. college students participated.

“Far from being civically oriented, young people born after 1982 are the most narcissistic generation in recent history,” said Twenge in a news release from SDSU. The study shows that the college students interviewed in 2006 were 30 percent more narcissistic than those interviewed in 1982. The study asked for responses to questions such as “I think I am a special person” and “I can live my life any way I want to.”

Twenge attributes modern technology to the increase in narcissism among Generation Y. “By its very name, MySpace encourages attention-seeking, as does YouTube, whose slogan is ‘Broadcast Yourself,’” Twenge said in the news release.

Those who are narcissistic in nature, according to Twenge, have little concern for others, become upset when offended, desire public approval and are more concerned about themselves looking good, rather than others.

If you are thinking that narcissistic thinking applies primarily to nonbelievers, you may be surprised by the findings in a separate study conducted by the Barna Group.

In the study titled “American Lifestyles Mix Compassion and Self-Oriented Behavior” the Barna Group found that the lives of born-again Christians were not so different from the rest of the world.

“In evaluating 15 moral behaviors, born again Christians are statistically indistinguishable from non-born again adults on most of the behaviors studied,” according to the report. For instance, one-quarter of born-again Christians are involved in viewing some sort of sexual content, cursing in public, and in purchasing a lottery ticket compared to around one-third of nonbelievers.

So what does this mean for the church today? Christians are supposed to be different—right?

“The respect, patience, self-control and kindness of born again Christians should astound people, but the lifestyles and relationships of born again believers are not much different than others,” said David Kinnaman, the one behind the study of American lifestyles and president and strategic leader of the Barna Research Group.

Kinnaman gives some suggestions of what Americans, as a whole, can do to stop being so self-centered. The challenge is simple: Begin to focus on others instead of yourself. Kinnaman said that being moral consists of more than just following commands, and being involved in the lives of others: “By getting the focus off themselves, Americans might experience much-needed transformation within their own lifestyles and perspectives.”

The Barna Group interviewed 1003 adults in October 2006 for this study. For more information concerning this study visit http://www.barna.org . More information about the Narcissistic Personality Inventory is available at http://www.sdsu.edu .

Further Learning

Learn more about: Family, Pop Culture

1 comments (post your own) feed

1 On Mar 10th, 2007, at 3:19pm, steve wrote:

With crystal cathedrals and jet setting ministers with coiffured hair and designer made suits is it any wonder that Christianity has little influence on a so-called narcissistic generation. A belief system that says I’ll be spending my time in heaven whilst you unbelievers are destined to live in the fires of hell also does little for not centering on self.

As for Christians being indiscernible from the mainstream in terms of ‘immoral’ behaviour - where’s the surprise? Most Christians are only Christians because they were born into a Christian environment -if they’d been born into a Moslem environment they’d be Moslem. There is nothing innate about Christianity that stops people from being tempted and at times being delighted by the pursuit and achievement of human pleasure.

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