Millennials see themselves as greedy, self-absorbed and wasteful, study finds

Many millennials – the age group generally defined as those between 18 and 34 – don’t think much of their own generation, according to a new poll.

The Pew Research Center study showed that millennials had far more negative views of their generation compared with Generation Xers, baby boomers or other age groups. More than half of millennials, 59%, described their generation as “self-absorbed” while 49% said they were “wasteful” and 43% said they were “greedy”.

Around 30% of Generation Xers — those ages 35 and 50 — said their own generation was self-absorbed and wasteful, and 20% of the baby boomers said the same about their age cohort.

Millennials “stand out in their willingness to ascribe negative stereotypes to their own generation” the study said. The older the group, the more positively they saw themselves, the Pew study found.

The so-called “Silent Generation” — those ages 70-87 — overwhelmingly described themselves as hard-working, responsible and patriotic, at 83%, 78% and 73%. The baby boomers were not far behind, picking those same three words to describe themselves, at 77%, 66% and 52% respectively.

But only 12% of millennials and 26% of Generation X said they were patriotic; 24% of millennials and 43% of the Gen Xers said they were responsible; while 36% of millennials and 54% of Generation X said they were hard-working.

Many millennials don’t even want to be identified as such, with 60% not considering themselves to be part of the “millennial generation.”

Instead 33% say they are part of Generation X.

The Silent Generation also didn’t want to be pigeonholed. Like the millennials only 18% considered themselves part of the group. Instead more identified as being with the baby boomers at 34% or the older demographic “Greatest Generation” at 34%.

Generational identity was strongest among the baby boomers, with 79% of those within the applicable age group identifying with the “baby-boom” generation.

The poll was conducted using Pew’s American Trends Panel among 3,147 respondents, initially selected over the phone but mostly interviewed online.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, according to Pew.

With Associated Press