Psychological study focused on nearly 25,000 students who believe their future depends on outside forces By Michael Kuhlmann, City EditorAlthough luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity, according to the common proverb, more students believe their future rests in the hands of fate.
Children ages 9 to 14 and college students think everything is beyond their control, a new study says. Headed by psychology professor Jean Twenge, along with researchers Liquing Zhang and Charles Im, results shows a sharp increase in this pessimistic outlook. The data is based on a total of 24,864 students, 97 samples of college students coupled with 41 samples of children, and was collected in the fall of 2002. Students from both age groups completed questionnaires during a time span of 42 years. Their attitudes were measured based on internality, believing in being in control of yourself, and externality, believing that luck and powerful others determine your fate. Twenge concluded in her study "blaming others for negative events has become more popular, and people are less likely to believe that anyone can be a success despite obstacles in the way." She went on to say college students are more likely to think getting a good job depends on being in the right place at the right time. However, because correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, she said she can only speculate on the causal relationship between time and externality. "I think the 24-hour cable news has had an effect on people becoming more external," she said. "You can sit on your living room couch and see all these terrible things that are happening around the world that you have no power to control." Undecided sophomore Kyle Dusi also said the media influences how attitudes are shaped. He said the upcoming generation is slightly bad mannered, because of the heavy "punk" exposure on cable programming such as on MTV. "The punk generation is kind of taking over and that attitude is all you see," he said. "I was just walking around and all the kids at the orientation were all punked out." Kyle said he noticed a particular attitude among his young teenage brother and his friends. "My brother's really disrespectful to my parents and really doesn't care about anything," he said. "His friends don't really seem to care about life or their careers or school." Tattoos, piercings and dark clothes aside, Kyle said punks do not have a positive attitude most of the time. He was cautious, nonetheless, not to attribute this personality trait to child rearing.
"Obviously, the parents aren't encouraging their kids to have that lifestyle," he said. While Twenge termed her subjects "Generation Whatever," based on their hopeless outlook on life, she said parenting can indeed have an effect on externality. "If your dad is saying, 'it doesn't matter what you do, it's all good luck,' you're likely to absorb those beliefs," she said. Ironically, Twenge's own beliefs bared strong contrast to her data, since she considered herself to be more of an internalist. She said if people are driven enough, they can overcome obstacles such as media exposure to murders or ongoing wars. Kinesiology senior Britt Runft echoed her remarks and added that people tend to use the media outlet as a scapegoat.
"It can be easier to look for that way rather than to put in a little bit of hard work," she said. "There are a lot of factors out there that influence our decisions, but I think it's up to us to decide where we want to go and what we want to do with the opportunities that are presented to us.
"And if you don't like your opportunities and the options, then you're in control enough to choose those and go in a different direction." In a battle to combat the pessimistic and hapless inhibitions people may have, author and clinical psychologist Joseph Luciani suggests to stop sabotaging oneself in his new book, The Power of Self-Coaching. In an effort to rid any fears, one of the key steps people take toward happiness is to replace self-doubt with self-confidence. "Insecurity and control lead to a bottled-up kind of life, leaving you vigilant, always looking over your shoulder and expecting trouble," he states.
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