{"id":84728,"date":"2025-08-28T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=84728"},"modified":"2025-08-24T22:05:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T02:05:02","slug":"the-personality-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/08\/the-personality-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Personality Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Every old generation seems to complain about the failings of the \u201cnew generation,\u201d how \u201ckids these days got no respect,\u201d \u201cyoung people don\u2019t have a sense of responsibility,\u201d and the like.\u00a0 We need to take that with a grain of salt.\u00a0 The old generation used to be a new generation and was subject to the same complaints.<\/p>\n

Now, though, some data has emerged that seems to suggest that we really are facing some generational problems today.\u00a0 The\u00a0Understanding America Study<\/a> conducted by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California looked at five attributes of personality.\u00a0 These are long-established traits used by psychologists in psychometric models:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. \u00a0Conscientiousness<\/li>\n
  2. Openness<\/li>\n
  3. Extroversion<\/li>\n
  4. Agreeableness<\/li>\n
  5. Neuroticism<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The study looks at those personality qualities, as identified by self-reported surveys, for various generational cohorts from 2014-2024.\u00a0 It found that over the last ten years, \u00a0while other age groups were relatively unchanged, for the 16-39 year old age group, the collective scores for conscientiousness, extroversion, and agreeableness plummeted\u2013<\/em>dramatically, by a lot<\/em>\u2013while neuroticism shot upward.\u00a0 \u00a0 (For the relevant charts with the numbers, go here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

    The study<\/a> and the lead report on its findings, an article by John Burn-Murdoch in the Financial Times<\/em> entitled\u00a0The troubling decline in conscientiousness<\/a>, are both behind paywalls, so let\u2019s hear from\u00a0 John R. Puri of National Review<\/em>, who wrote Young Adults May Be Losing Their Ability to Lead Good Lives<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    Burn-Murdoch writes that conscientiousness, \u201cthe quality of being dependable and disciplined,\u201d appears to be the most determinative trait for living well. \u201cOf all personality types, conscientious people tend to fare best on a number of key measures. They live the longest, have the most career success and are less likely to go through divorce. They even manage to hold down a job during recessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Unfortunately, conscientiousness is also the personality attribute that has fallen the most, especially among young adults. A\u00a0 comprehensive study<\/a>\u00a0shows that \u201cpeople in their twenties and thirties in particular report feeling increasingly easily distracted and careless, less tenacious and less likely to make and deliver on commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Also way down for young people in particular is agreeableness, a measure of politeness and compassion that indicates how kind and cooperative we are. Extroversion, which measures our aptitude for social interaction, has fallen across all age groups, but young people especially. The only personality trait that is up among young adults is neuroticism, a tendency toward negative emotions like anger and sadness, which is \u201ca function of the much-discussed increase in anxiety.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Why are young adults today so \u201ceasily distracted and careless\u201d and \u201cless tenacious\u201d?\u00a0 Why are they so impolite, uncompassionate, unkind, and uncooperative?\u00a0 Why are they so bad at social interaction?\u00a0 Why are they so neurotic, angry, sad, and anxious?<\/p>\n

    One obvious culprit is technology.\u00a0\u00a0Colby Hall at Mediaite\u00a0<\/em>has no doubt about that, going so far as to write a fulminating article entitled Alarming New Study Finds Smartphones Ruining Our Brains at Unprecedented Speed<\/a>.\u00a0 He writes,<\/p>\n

    In less than 15 years, we\u2019ve tethered billions of brains to an always-on, infinitely stimulating \u201cmeta-world\u201d \u2014 a hybrid of the broader digital ecosystem, the AI-powered feed that tells you what is conventionally known, and social media platforms that distort reality by promoting the loudest, most self-promotional sliver of humanity. This is not a tool for quiet reflection; it\u2019s a behavioral slot machine that lives in your hand.<\/p>\n

    And the cost is attention. Not just \u201cI get distracted sometimes\u201d attention, but the deep, sustained focus that conscientiousness requires. The skill of delaying gratification, resisting impulse, and staying the course is being replaced by an addiction to novelty, validation, and stimulation. The more we indulge, the less we can resist indulging \u2014 and the chart\u2019s freefalling red line for young adults shows exactly where that road leads.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Technology is surely a factor, maybe the major factor.\u00a0 But personality is shaped by lots of other things.\u00a0 I wonder whether there are any mega-trends in parenting or lack of parenting that might have contributed to these neuroses.\u00a0 What might be the effect of school culture and progressive education?\u00a0 Have universities played a role in making their graduates hopeless and nihilistic?\u00a0 I think a big factor might be the overall decline in religion among this cohort and their families, which has very likely led to declines in self-discipline, kindness, relationships with others, and the sense that their lives have meaning.<\/p>\n

    I have seen these characteristics in young adults I\u2019ve known as a college professor.\u00a0 And yet, to be honest,\u00a0 I haven\u2019t noticed these traits in homeschooled or classically-educated young adults or confessionally Christian young people.<\/p>\n

    Quite the contrary.\u00a0 They tend to be very conscientious, very agreeable, and with few exceptions not neurotic.\u00a0 They are not necessarily extroverted, any more than I am.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what the psychometric people mean by \u201copenness,\u201d a trait not mentioned in these reports.\u00a0 Evidently, 16-39 year olds as a whole don\u2019t have a problem with openness, which these social scientists consider to be a good thing.\u00a0 I suspect they may be too<\/em> open, which could lead to some of the other dysfunctions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    No wonder this troubled generation is starting to return to religion.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Illustration:\u00a0 Psychology Identity<\/a> by kalhh via Creazilla, Public Domain<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A study found that over the last ten years, \u00a0while other age groups were relatively unchanged, for the 16-39 year old age group, the personality scores for conscientiousness, extroversion, and agreeableness plummeted dramatically, while neuroticism shot upward.\u00a0 But why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":85097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,14,15,16,37,42,44],"tags":[16979,16982,3836,16976,16973,3465],"class_list":["post-84728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-education","category-ethics","category-family","category-psychology","category-social-science","category-technology","tag-decine-of-conscientiousness","tag-effect-of-technology-on-young-people","tag-generational-differences","tag-personality","tag-understanding-america-study","tag-young-adults"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Personality Collapse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A study found that over the last ten years, \u00a0while other age groups were relatively unchanged, for the 16-39 year old age group, the personality scores for conscientiousness, extroversion, and 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