Rethinking Generation Me: A Study of Cohort Effects From 1976-2006
Kali Trzesniewski and Brent Donnellan use national survey data from about 477,000 American high school seniors collected between 1976 and 2006 to test the claim that recent cohorts are more self-centred. They found little meaningful change over thirty years in egotism, self-esteem, locus of control, happiness, loneliness or antisocial behaviour. Later cohorts reported less fear of social problems, more cynicism, less trust and higher educational expectations, and the effect sizes were small. The authors conclude that there is little evidence for strong or widespread cohort-linked change in these traits. This page cites the study for that reading of the survey.
Kali Trzesniewski and Brent Donnellan use national survey data from about 477,000 American high school seniors collected between 1976 and 2006 to test the claim that recent cohorts are more self-centred. They found little meaningful change over thirty years in egotism, self-esteem, locus of control, happiness, loneliness or antisocial behaviour. Later cohorts reported less fear of social problems, more cynicism, less trust and higher educational expectations, and the effect sizes were small. The authors conclude that there is little evidence for strong or widespread cohort-linked change in these traits. This page cites the study for that reading of the survey.
Written from the publisher record and the Association for Psychological Science summary, read 2026-10-24.
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Trzesniewski, K. H., & Donnellan, M. B. (2010). Rethinking Generation Me: A study of cohort effects from 1976-2006. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(1), 58-75. doi:10.1177/1745691609356789