Millenials May Be Most Distrusting of All Generations - East Idaho News

Millenials May Be Most Distrusting of All Generations

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getty 090514 trustfriends?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1409931840534iStock/Thinkstock(SAN DIEGO) — Millennials have definite views of the world they live in and they’re apparently not very positive in a study by San Diego State University researcher Jean Twenge.

Back in the mid-1970s when Baby Boomers were still young, about a third of high school seniors agreed that most people could be trusted even after Watergate and the Vietnam War.

Flash forward to present day and just 16 percent of high schoolers in 2012 said most people could be trusted.

Twenge, author of the book, Generation Me, maintains that, “Young people today feel disconnected and alienated,” which could be due a litany of reasons, including the Great Recession, dysfunction in Washington and public figures from sports and the arts who can’t stay out of trouble.

Just 22 percent of high school seniors in 2012, compared to 49 percent in 2000-2002, felt that Congress was doing a “good” or “very good” job.

Millennials’ attitudes are also less positive than Boomers or Gen Xers on a host of other institutions as well, including corporations, universities, religions and the media.

Twenge’s study will appear in the journal Psychological Science later this month.


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