Jean Twenge

Jean Marie Twenge (born August 24, 1971) is an American psychologist researching generational differences, including work values, life goals, and social attitudes. She is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, She has examined generational differences in work attitudes, life goals, developmental speed, sexual behavior, and religious commitment.

She is also known for her books iGen, Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic. In the September 2017 issue of The Atlantic, Twenge argued that smartphones were the most likely cause behind the sudden increases in mental health issues among teens after 2012. Twenge co-authored a 2017 corpus linguistics analysis that said that George Carlin's "seven dirty words you can't say on television" were used 28 times more frequently in 2008 than in 1950 in the texts at Google Books. Twenge said the increase is due to the dominance of self over social conventions.

Education Twenge was educated at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan where she was awarded a PhD in 1998 for a meta-analysis of assertiveness, sociability and anxiety.

Career and research Twenge's research investigates issues around generations, personality, social psychology and gender roles. Twenge responded to this criticism by declaring that the NPI "is employed in 77% of studies of narcissistic traits" and "is also the best self-report predictor of narcissistic traits derived from clinical interviews". She also stated that "documenting trends in young people's self-reported traits and attitudes is empirical research, not a complaint or a stereotype".

Sarah Rose Cavanagh in Psychology Today disagreed with Twenge's negative view of the impact of smartphones—as outlined in her book, iGen—arguing that Twenge had ignored data supporting positive findings, presented correlation as causation, over-generalized and not taken social contexts into account. Twenge responded to Cavanagh in the same publication, citing a meta-analysis and controlled experiments in support of her theories [citations missing], and stating that her article and book had also highlighted positive trends. She also denied that she was outright opposed to technology: "martphone or internet use of up to an hour or two a day is not linked with mental health issues or unhappiness ... It's two hours a day and beyond that that's the issue."

Publications

Twenge's publications include: Generation Me (2006; revised and updated edition, 2014) The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, with W. Keith Campbell (2009) Social Psychology, with David G. Myers, 10th edition (2010)1st edition (1983) by Myers alone; Twenge joined as collaborator from the 10th edition (2010) and as co-author from the 12th edition (2017); the most recent (15th) edition is called the "2025 Release" The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant (2012) Personality Psychology: Understanding Yourself and Others, with W. Keith Campbell (2016; 2nd edition, 2021) iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood (2017) Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents — and What They Mean for America's Future (2023) 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World (2025)