GEN Z: REDEFINING HYPER-SENSITIVITY Being sensitive simply means as a generation, Gen Z are more tuned into human emotions and more determined to take everyone's feelings into consideration.
The Greatest Generation commonly refers to those Americans who were born in the 1900s through the 1920s. The Greatest Generation members all lived through the Great Depression and many of them fought in World War II.
Baby boomers are the most sensitive generation according to a recent study published in the Journal of Psychology and Aging. Baby boomers, or people between the ages of 55 to 73, are more likely to be narcissistic and hypersensitive.
New research from talent management company Cangrade has looked at workplace happiness generation by generation. And a survey of 600 individuals found that Gen Z is the most unhappy generation at work. Just 59% of Gen Z workers are happy, compared to 69% for Baby Boomers and 76% for Millennials and Gen X.
According to a recent study published in the open-access scientific journal Plos One, Millennials and Gen Zers are the most self-absorbed generation by far and by their own admission.
While various labels have been used to describe later generations, such as the baby boomers (born 1945–1965), Generation X (1965–1980), or even millennials (1980–1995), it strikes me that the individuals leading America today would be better dubbed “the Most Selfish Generation.”
Your Gen Z workforce is likely even more narcissistic than the Millennial team members, given their current ages. And if you're now in your forties or older, you were probably self-absorbed between the ages of 18 and 25. Should you be less narcissistic today, congratulations—you matured.
One in four Gen Z respondents reported feeling more emotionally distressed (25 percent), almost double the levels reported by millennial and Gen X respondents (13 percent each), and more than triple the levels reported by baby boomer respondents (8 percent).
Millennials and Gen Z are less enthusiastic about having children than their parents. The reasons are many: financial, social, and biological, along with the preference among younger generations for “freedom.” America's falling fertility rates have been a cause for concern for several decades.
Millennials (and the kids born after them) are currently being called the “unhealthiest generation” in human history—facing diagnoses, mysterious illnesses and conditions that our ancestors or their parents never faced.
The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that: 90% of Gen Z experienced psychological or physical symptoms as a result of stress in the last year. ² 70% of Gen Z say that anxiety and depression are significant problems among their peers.
So it's no surprise recent studies have declared millennials, especially women, the most anxious generation in history. Anxiety comes in many forms, but the simplest way to describe it is feeling worried or nervous about the future or uncertain situations.
And it's a surprising finding that UK Gen Zers are three times more likely to describe themselves as introverts than extroverts. Perhaps this is because there's more of an opportunity to thrive as an introvert thanks to powerful communication tools – an opportunity previous generations hadn't grown up with.
Gen Z is also the smartest and best educated generation. Having an unlimited wealth of information at our disposal has not gone to waste. In America, 57 percent of Gen Z is reported to have enrolled in a two-year or four-year college, compared to 52 percent of Millenials and 43 percent of Gen X.
The Greatest generation, those born 1901 to 1927, are known to have been born and come of age in the “American Century” of economic growth, technological progress, and mostly military triumph. The Silent generation describes adults born from 1928 through 1945.
Gen Xers would come to be known as one of the “least parented, least nurtured generations in U.S. history,” with parents divorcing at historic rates as both mom and dad worked in pursuit of an American Dream.
Gen Z (42%) is about twice as likely as Americans over 25 (23%) to battle depression and feelings of hopelessness.
According to Bankrate, 77% of Gen Z workers are thinking about leaving their jobs while Microsoft found that 54% of Gen Z workers are looking to quit. This is pushing Gen Z to be deemed 'Generation Quit'.
Gen Z moms feel less confident.
They put more emphasis on being the "perfect mom" compared to Millennials, and they strive to reach more parenting ideals, from keeping kids busy to owning the scheduling for the entire family.
Students fear a lack of finances and fulfilment
The greatest fears for Generation Z centre on not achieving their hopes and dreams for the future.
Gen Z: Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012. They are currently between 9 and 24 years old (nearly 68 million in the U.S.)
Gen Z also faces an unprecedented behavioral health crisis: US Gen Zers surveyed by McKinsey report the least positive outlook and the highest prevalence of mental illness of any generation, and European respondents report struggling with self-stigma.
Regarding the stats, it's clear that Gen Z is struggling. A 2022 survey of Gen Z young adults (ages 19 through 24) found that 42% are diagnosed with a mental health condition. Of these people, 26% were diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which worsened mental health for many people of all ages.
The idea of social isolation makes them even more anxious and uneasy, and makes them want to be socially involved all the time. Social anxiety can also be attributed to the changing nuclear family setup in modern India, where gen z are subject to helicopter parenting (J. L. Young, 2017).
Born between 1997 and 2007, Gen Z is a generation that has been rocked by insecurity from the start: Financial crashes, school shootings, climate change, terrorism, hyper-competitive academics and job markets—and ongoing social and economic injustice.