A huge study just released by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology clearly shows a rapid decline in both environmental concern & activism in younger people in U.S.
The findings seem to fly in the face of what may of us tend to believe about the younger generation in the country.
Based on two long-standing national surveys of high school seniors and college freshmen, Twenge and her colleagues found a decline over the past four decades in young people’s trust in others, their interest in government and the time they said they spent thinking about social problems.
Steepest of all was a steady decline in concern about the environment and in taking personal action to save it.
The results paint a bleak and horrifying future for the world at large.
Researchers found that, when surveyed decades ago, about a third of young baby boomers said it was important to become personally involved in programs to clean up the environment. In comparison, only about a quarter of young Generation X members — and 21 percent of Millennials — said the same.
Millennials, a.k.a.
Generation Y, are supposed to hold the future of this nation, and the globe, in its hands. And yet, those hands seem to be stuck in their pockets, or worse on their shiny objects and wallets.
Think of what it means to the rest of the planet when the nation that consumes 25% of its resources has a young generation like this-
Meanwhile, 15 percent of Millennials said they had made no effort to help the environment, compared with 8 percent of young Generation X members and 5 percent of young baby boomers.
No effort. Think how divorced from one's surrounds one must be to take no effort whatsoever to protect, clean or preserve it. It truly boggles the mind that people in their 20s & 30s (Generation Y) are the ones we are talking about here.
And it gets worse-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/...
...said the study's lead author, Jean Twenge, PhD, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of the book, "Generation Me." "These data show that recent generations are less likely to embrace community mindedness and are focusing more on money, image and fame."
...
"The generational trends toward more political disengagement, less environmental concern and more materialistic values could have a meaningful impact on society. It will be interesting to see how millennials are affected by the recent recession and whether future generations will reverse the trends. "
"It will be interesting to see..."
"Interesting" is one of my favorite euphemisms. In this context, it is sorta like saying "The brakes on this vehicle have stopped working" as it is careening downhill at high speeds. "It will be interesting to see how this journey ends"
12:54 PM PT: Glad to see there is pushback on the methodology and that this may not be as ironclad as it seemed.
http://www.wearepowershift.org/...
Thanks to those in comments who knew more about the response to this study than I did at the time of posting. I usually try hard to avoid succumbing to despair, but this study seemed legit at first glance.
Hope may still prevail in the face of too much gloom.
1:58 PM PT: See also A Siegel's response to this post:
http://www.dailykos.com/...