Do today's young people really think they are so extraordinary? An examination of secular trends in narcissism and self-enhancement.
The present research investigated secular trends in narcissism and self-enhancement over the past three decades. Despite recent claims about the impact of the "self-esteem movement" on the current generation of young people, we found no evidence that college students' scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory increased from the 1980s through 2007 (N= 26,867), although we did find small changes in specific facets of narcissism. Similarly, we found no evidence that high school students' level of self-enhancement, defined by the discrepancy between their perceived intelligence and their actual academic achievements, increased from 1976 to 2006 (N= 410,527). These results cast doubt on the belief that today's young people have increasingly inflated impressions of themselves compared with previous generations.
Trzesniewski
Kali H
KH
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. k.trz@uwo.ca
Donnellan
M Brent
MB
Robins
Richard W
RW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology