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Today is a critical time in history. We have so much to contend with. This month, the beginning of the New Year, I am discussing a group of people who are so dear to me, the Millennials, also known as Generation Y, the Micro wavers, Generation Me, and Echo Boomers. Although many of us, Baby Boomers are aware of their presence, but sometimes we refuse to acknowledge them. They are here and will be here upon our demise.
What is a Millennial? Millennials is the generation born between 1982 and sometime in the early 2000s, although these boundaries are not set in stone. Some of the early definitions have this generation starting as early as 1978 or as late as 1985. There are many misconceptions about Millennials. One such misconception is that they are an extension of the preceding generation (X). But, in reality they are very different from them. It is a conscious feeling that this group is quite misbehaved, but all youth risk behaviors have decreased over the last fifteen years, including drug use, teen pregnancy, and youth violence. Family is very important to the Millennials and they are especially close to parents. Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe are credited with naming the Millennials, coining the term in 1987, around the time children born in 1982 were entering preschool, and the media were first identifying their prospective link to the new millennium as the high school graduating class of 2000 (Strauss & Howe, 2012).
In August 1993, an Ad Age editorial coined the phrase Generation Y to describe those who were aged 11 or younger as well as the teenagers of the upcoming ten years who were defined as different from Generation X.
A minority of demographers and researchers start the generation in the late 1970s CNBC, 2015); while the majority of researchers and demographers start the generation in the early 1980s.
TRAITS
Twenge (2007) attributes Millennials with traits of confidence and tolerance, but also identifies a sense of entitlement and narcissism based on personality surveys that showed increasing narcissism among Millennials compared to preceding generations when they were teens and in their twenties.
The Pew Research Center issued a report about how "Millennials in adulthood" are "detached from institutions and networked...