Today I heard Dr. Twenge give a presentation to college faculty members on the characteristics of people who were born after 1995. The questions that followed were remarkable for two reasons. First, there was broad acceptance of her research-backed claim that our youngest students are experiencing a rising level of mental health problems. Second, the most-asked question was about helping students: What should be done? Who should do it? How can we be expected to help when this is not our area of expertise? Clearly, the stakes are high, the problem is growing, and the solution is not simple.
Twenge, Jean M. iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood. Atrria Books-Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2017, p. 302.