Baby Boomers Are More Sensitive Than Millennials, According to a Study on Narcissism

For decades, two particular species of animals have viciously fought with each other, putting all their efforts into proving that the other is inferior.

I’m talking about Baby Boomers and Millennials, of course.

The Baby Boomer is rumoured to have evolved over 73 years ago somewhere in Tanzania. A Boomer’s hobbies include frowning, going tsk at kids around them, and starting speeches with the phrase “In my day…”

On the other hand, scientists believe the Millennial arrived on the planet 38 years ago from a distant planet. A Millenial’s hobbies include rolling their eyes at older people, crying, and complaining.

One of the Boomer’s main reasons for detesting the Millenial is its perceived strawberry-like persona as a result of overprotective parenting.

But what if it’s actually the other way around?

Boomer: OK Millenial

No, that’s not a thing, sorry.

Boomer: *cries*

Baby Boomers Are More Sensitive Than Millennials, According to a Study on Narcissism

A study has found that baby boomers are actually more sensitive than Millenials, contrary to popular belief.

The study, published in the journal Psychology and Ageing on 10 December, is the largest study of narcissism to date with nearly 750 people.

For those who aren’t a huge fan of themselves, narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which a person has an inflated sense of self-importance and a lack of empathy for others, which usually masks low self-esteem.

Some people may have just one or two narcissistic traits, but not the full-blown disorder.

Study

In this study, researchers looked at people between the ages of 13 and 77 who had completed interviews about their work, personality, and family lives.

Psychologists and psychiatrists then analyzed and ranked on a scale from one to five, with five having the most narcissistic traits like defensiveness, authoritativeness, and stubbornness.

The researchers used “hypersensitivity” to determine a person’s level of defensiveness, which was defined as “being unreceptive to others’ feedback and lashing out at any criticism toward one’s self.”

Surprisingly, they found that younger generations are less hypersensitive than older generations.

As the Insider says, this suggests the millennial generation is less sensitive than the baby boomer generation.

Contradictory findings

The researchers also found that as individuals in the study got older, they became less sensitive; hypersensitivity sharply declined after a person turned 40.

Reader: But… but you just said that-

Yes, well, they’re both true.

When the researchers looked at generation-specific trends, they noticed that overall, older generations were more sensitive than younger generations.

This means one thing: old people are generally less narcissistic except the baby boomer generation due to “generation-specific events” that shaped their outlook on life.

Boomer: Are you calling me narcissistic?

Yes. 

Boomer: How dare you! Humility is one of my greatest strengths!

But…

There were some caveats to the study, however. Researchers relied on existing data sets to reach their conclusions rather than personally following people of different generations for decades.

And these researchers decided on their own criteria to analyze narcissism, which could have skewed the results.

Nevertheless, the study still goes against the notion that younger generations are inherently more self-centered than older ones.

“Based on our study, there’s weak evidence that this [younger] generation is the worst in human history,” said William Chopik, a social-personality psychologist at Michigan State and co-author of the study.

So, there you have it. The results may not be conclusive, but they certainly show that we are not the strawberries everyone believes we are.

There’s really no need for us to hate each other, Boomer. Let’s learn to live together peacefully. Despite our age difference, we’re really just like you.

Boomer: Aw, that’s quite swe-

Only stronger and more humble, according to Science.

Boomer: You little sh*t.