Gen Y 1 - Role of Generation Y Parents

How has Generation Y been shaped by their parents?

The background of increased affluence and affection

The general affluence of the 80s and 90s has allowed more parents (from both the working and middle classes) in the western world to provide better parenting to their children. Generation Y is the first generation where greater emphasis has been put around children.

Many Generation Y parents (who mainly Baby Boomers with a smattering of Generation X) have made the decision to provide their own children with better parenting than they had received themselves from their parents. Typically they have bought their children up with more affection and involvement, and in return their children have a high degree of affinity closeness to their parents.

High self esteem vs narcissism

Generation Y in many respects have been treated as "equals" whose opinions are listened to and celebrated by their their parents. Generation Y typically have high levels of self-esteem and self-regard.

Some consider that this high level of parenting has backfired and parents have created a "generation of narcissists" with self-inflated views. Generation Y is also known as "Generation Why?" because they have no fear of questioning anyone or anything.

Caring vs over-involvement

Generation Y parents have been more involved in the lives of their children, providing more caring and affection than previous generations of parents. They have also generally taken it upon themselves to structure the lives of their children with value adding activities - scheduling their children from when they get up to when they go to sleep. What has been the consequences of this over-involvement?

• Reduced robustness and decision making ability - Generation Y has not had to experience as much struggle and self-sacrifice as previous generations. As a result, they have developed to a lesser degree the robustness and resilience that comes from learning to handle difficult situations and experiences. Generation Y also have less experience in making decisions for themselves because everything has been structured for them
• Helicopter parenting - the integration of the lives of parents with the lives of their children has meant that the line between "parent" and "child" has become blurred. Generation Y parents are considered to be over-involved in the lives of their children by employers and also known as "helicopter parents" because they hover over everything that their children do. In the past young people were typically left to their own devices in their university education and in their job searching activities supporting their early independence...however the rise of helicopter parenting has resulted in parents becoming too involved both in their children's university experiences (some universities in the USA have banned parents from their campuses) and work experiences (there have been some interesting accounts of parents participating in the interviewing process with their children!)
• Longer transitions into adulthood - Parents willingness to continue parenting for longer periods of time has resulted in Generation Y now stretching their transition into adulthood into their late 20s. We also have a term "boomerang" that applies to young people who return back to live with their parents after they have finished their studies

Decisions that Generation Y have made from looking at the lives of their parents

Generation Y have been significantly impacted by viewing the lives their parents:

• they have seen their parents revolve their lives around work and TV
• they have seen the impact of what a lack of work-life balance create
• they have seen their parents work too hard at work for not much return
• they have seen that a lack of investment in personal relationships result in divorce
• they have seen a lack of company loyalty towards their parents who working extremely hard to please their employers only to be made redundant or downsized
• they have seen the impact that unfulling work has on a person
• they have seen that money and an affluent lifestyle do not provide happiness

...they have seen all this and they do not want the same for themselves or their own families.

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following articles: (7), (13), (17), (18), (19), (20), (30)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

• First Steps conference - research background
• Generation Y research strand
• Generalisations & Generation Y
• Generation Y articles used for research
• Gen Y1 - role of Generation Y parents
• Gen Y2 - role of technology
• Gen Y3 - other factors influencing Generation Y & the Generation Y divide
• Gen Y4 -Generation Y characteristics and values in life
• Gen Y5 - the marketing view of Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 1 - characteristics and values at work
• Gen Y at work 2 - Generation Y and intergenerational conflict
• Gen Y at work 3 - Generation Y - vision, good work, work ethics, work-life balance
• Gen Y at work 4 - how employing Generation Y will benefit business
• Gen Y at work 5 - how to manage Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 6 - Generation Y and career
• Gen Y at work 7 - recruiting Generation Y

Posted by: Hina Patel

Comments

[John Ballam]

This is a brialliant web site with some well documemented research, which has been very useful - I live and work in South Africa and am in tertiary education - this generational theory is very applicable to the first world component of our country but there are gaps when it comes to people living in the third world. There is a whole area of research there as yet quite untapped.