Youth culture has always been a part of civilised society’s evolution. Not venturing too far into history, this has been portrayed in films and musicals like West Side Story to KidultHood. Today, there is growing concern about the increase in narcissistic personality traits in today’s youth culture. Narcissism defines a tendency to love oneself excessively without any regard for others.

I recently got on a bus, and a young teenage girl tried to dodge paying her fair, but she was stopped by the bus driver. When she reluctantly attempted to pay her bus ticket with a five-pound note, she was told by the bus driver that she cannot pay with her five pound note because he is not obliged to provide change for a five pound note. Of course, this response only elicited a barrage of insults from the girl, who then proceeded to stamp up to the upper deck and refuse to leave the bus, grounding the bus and delaying all other passengers. This has become a regular occurrence on buses; teenagers definitely rules the roost, and they definitely know when to push your buttons. This adolescent girl felt she was perfectly within her rights to insult an adult in authority and disregard the needs of other passengers on the bus. Her sole aim was to punish the bus driver for questioning her in such a public way.

There are two sides to this story! We have to keep in mind that a healthy level narcissism is part of our personality development that allows us to have confidence in our abilities and know that our opinions are equally important.

A psychological study in 2006 that examined and compared the responses of a total group of 16,475 college students to an NPI (Narcissistic Personality Inventory) questionnaire taken separately in 1982 and 2006, showed that two- thirds of all participants had above average narcissism scores. To put this in perspective, this was 30% more than the score received in the 1982 study (as cited by Steven Warshawsky on www.americanthinker.com). This means that there is a significant upward trend in college students having narcissistic tendencies. In this case, they were American college students, but I believe this reflects similar trends in other countries in the world and more so western European culture.

Although the statistical validity of a narcissistic personality inventory score as a whole can be disputed, the overall consensus is that college students who represent youth culture seem to display high levels of a pattern of grandiosity. A narcissistic personality often displays exaggerated claims to talents, importance and ‘special-ness,” either openly or in their private fantasies. They also need constant admiration from others and lack empathy for others.

Other studies report that narcissists are more likely to have romantic relationships that are short-term, prone to infidelity in an attempt to chase after the excitement in a new relationship, lack emotional warmth, exhibit game-playing dishonesty, or show over-controlling and violent behaviour.

Without a doubt, this captures some aspects of celebrity lifestyles, the fascination with shows like Big Brother, and the craze of talent shows with contestants that are unaware of their inabilities.

This raises the question, what is the real source of narcissism in today’s youth culture? What happened to the other participants who did not display such high levels of narcissistic traits? Why did they not go overboard?

Do you remember the “liberation” movement?” Think of the trailblazers of flower power, freedom, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Although such movements have advanced our ability to live and let live, the attitude was not far from what we see in youth culture today. In some ways, every generation ever since, took their rebellion further, and this generation is no exception. This alludes to the psychological theory and validated empirical research that narcissism is at the core of anti-social behaviour in adolescents.

Yet, in reality, the problem is not just a generational and cultural trend based on wanting freedom and a Utopian lifestyle. At the core of a person with narcissistic personality traits is often a person who has experienced a lack of emotional support or trauma in childhood. This can range from having had a fatal illness, abuse, or having to ignore their needs for parents whose dreams about what they should achieve is not in line with their child’s ability or desire. Think of children for whom self-worth is synonymous with winning pageants or becoming the next Einstein. The narcissist fabricates an idealized image or notion of themselves to dissociate from their memories of being emotionally or physical abused or both.

The education system also plays a role in fueling narcissistic behavior in youth. With an ever-growing number of disaffected pupils who already face challenges at home, coming to an nonsupporting educational environment just entrenches an adolescent’s need to seek a way out through grandiose daydreaming, or finding solace amongst gang culture or teenage rituals that elicit some hope, even if it is self-denying or destructive.

Youth culture is a natural part of an adolescent’s development that gives youth a voice, highlighting the needs of the next generation, and ultimately highlighting how we are failing them, especially emotionally. The rebellion of every generation attempts to elicit a response from society. Narcissism in youth culture takes over when the society as a whole fails to respond to our youth’s outcry to be given guidance and support. We forget that this is a genuine and valid desire, despite the natural inclination of youths to exercise a healthy level of rebellion in order to transition into adulthood.