In The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, Jean Twenge, a faculty member at San Diego State University, and Keith Campbell, an associate professor of psychology at UGA, examine the rise of narcissism in America.
The authors draw from an extensive body of research in psychology, sociology and economics to expose, for the first time, the spread of narcissism and how it is destroying our culture. The central feature of narcissism is a positive and inflated view of self-narcissists believe they are better than others. In the culture at large, narcissistic values such as materialism, vanity, entitlement, exhibitionism and celebrity worship are transmitted through the media, including Internet sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and through parenting practices different from those of decades past.
In data from 37,000 college students, narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity between the 1980s and the present. According to researchers from the National Institutes of Health, one out of 11 of Americans in their 20s-and one out of 16 of all Americans-have experienced Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
The authors provide a prescription for countering narcissism on both the individual and cultural levels. The book is scheduled to be released April 21.