Generational Narcissism.

Mary Beth-
              
         In his book, The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch explains that symptoms of narcissism include "a certain protective shallowness, a fear of binding commitments, a willingness to pull up roots whenever the need arose, a desire to keep one's options open, a dislike of depending on anyone, and an incapacity for loyalty or gratitude" (p.239). In my opinion, this sounds like more of a generational issue than a culture issue. It is not that our culture is collectively changing their attitude, it is the fact that generationally, young adults are choosing to stay young adults longer than they were decades ago.
                College age individuals like myself exhibit many, if not all of the "symptoms" described by Lasch. Most cannot fathom the idea of marriage just yet, they feel the need to keep their options open and are very independent. They are very focused on themselves and their own success. The young adult generation is normally narcissistic.
               Yet, when this generation merges into their mid-late 30's and 40's, they tend to change their ways and become much more relationship-oriented. They begin to settle down and focus on their families rather than themselves. This phenomenon has not changed very much throughout history. The only difference is that individuals tend to wait longer to settle down in contemporary society, yet, it is still the norm. Thus, there is most definitely a generational component to the explanation of our culture's narcissistic culture.