Research Dispels Millennial Theories
Millennials appear more like than different from their parents' generation
Publishers' note
Generational change has always been a notion with enormous popular appeal. The current fascination with the characteristics of "Millennials," the generation that entered college at the turn of the century, is the legacy to generations X, Y, and Boomers, the generational labels given cohorts that came of age between the 1960s and the turn of the century.
The Millennial generation has been a particular source of curiosity among college and university presidents, trustees, enrollment officers, and student life staff. But aside from a few popular books on Millennials, whose assumptions are supported largely by anecdote or a few focus groups with students, there is scant empirical evidence to support the speculation about the values and behavior of the turn-of-the-century generation, particularly as they relate to college consideration and choice.
To help fill this empirical void, we decided to devote this issue of studentPOLL to the evidence about Millennials and how they differ from previous generations of college students, drawing both on studentPOLL's own research and longitudinal data from the Cooperative Institute Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey.
Last fall, studentPOLL administered an online survey to a national sample of college-bound rising high school seniors. This survey focused on how Millennials perceive themselves to be different from their parents on a variety of factors relating to college choice. Such a survey, of course, is about self-perceived differences, and measures values and attitudes at only one point in time. It is helpful, but not definitive.
To understand true generational change, consistent measures have to be taken over a long period of time, at least one generation or more, about 40 years. There is only one such source of longitudinal data on the attitudes of college students: surveys conducted by CIRP, part of the Higher Education Research Institute based at the University of California, Los Angeles. CIRP researchers have conducted an annual survey—the Freshman Survey—of incoming college freshmen every year since 1966. The survey is administered during orientation by more than 700 colleges and universities nationwide, with 272,000 students participating in the fall 2007 survey.
This issue of studentPOLL, a collaboration of the College Board, Art & Science Group, and CIRP, synthesizes data from the recent studentPOLL survey on Millennials as well as key findings from CIRP's 2007 report, and its 2006 report, The American Freshman: Forty Year Trends. The findings from these surveys puncture large holes in much of the conventional wisdom about Millennials, but also provide solid evidence for other conclusions about this generation. In many respects, the data show that Millennials are more like their parents than different.
More than anything, the findings confirm that generational change is gradual and transitional, with few abrupt shifts, and that gross generalizations about an entire generation do not capture important subtleties and differences. The findings also sound a warning first raised in 1949 by the psychologist Benjamin Forer. He posited the idea—now known as the Forer Effect—that people are highly disposed to accept vague, generalized, positive personality descriptions about themselves or about people like themselves, and to gravitate toward answers that simplify and order a complex world.
In an era when the socioeconomic and racial diversity and complexity of the college-bound population is greater than it has ever been, nothing could be more dangerous. So we offer this issue of studentPOLL in the spirit of encouraging more thoughtful and nuanced consideration of the student populations entering our college campuses today.
Michael Bartini, senior vice president for enrollment, the College Board
Richard Hesel, principal, Art & Science Group, LLC
John Pryor, director, Cooperative Institute Research Program
Published May 21, 2008
The report findings, along with charts and tables, may be found at the links below:
- Factors in College Choice
- Personal Values
- Purpose of a College Education
- Social, Political & Socioeconomic Questions
- Factors in the College Environment
- The Millennial Population
- Millennial Facts & Myths
studentPOLL published by the College Board and Art & Science Group, LLC. Copyright © 2008 The College Board and Art & Science Group.