Gen+Y-+What+are+they+thinking?

Student Name: Woon Ki, Liu Student Number: 08048819 Tutor: Judith Meiklejohn

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Is Gen Y too ‘individualistic’ and ‘consumer-obsessed’? What is the mental health of this generation like?

=__Artefact__ = = = ==

= = This artefact is about thought of Hippies & Yuppies (Gen Y). They have different thoughts about what they want but there is one common thing they looking about: a shirt with a tag. It is obvious that both of them want different things. There are many items in both bubbles but none of them appears twice except the shirt. In Gen Y's bubble, telephone, money, car, tie, watch, a suitcase and magazine are all to express his thought.

=__**Public Health Issue**__ = = = In the society now, there are many criticisms towards Generation Y about their unique personalities, attitudes, behaviours. We can always hear different voices from medias to talk about this generation and how they are different to other generations. The most common negative comments were made to Gen Y, for example, selfish, huge egos, self-centred, materialistic and "life is just for fun". But the real question is- Is Gen Y really too "individualistic" or "consumer- obsessed"?. This topic will be discussed through the social and cultural analysis, and some evidence- based articles. Also, mental health of this group is a good area to talk about to understand their health statuses and thoughts.

=**__ Literature Review __** =

Is Gen Y too individualistic? They are but this term is not completely suitable for them. The research article “Retail Therapy” by the Monash University(Daniels, 2007), pointed out Gen Y dislike stereotyping and demand to be treated as individuals. They are a generation addicted to change and constant activity. It means that this generation is very independent, not like being treated as someone else and they enjoy challenging and participating in different activities. Also, they are keen to express their own feelings and opinions. But at the same time, talking about making decision or social interaction, Gen Y is not that individualistic. Kennedy(2001) stated that generation Y was raised in groups and focus of their lives and "everybody wins" environment. They were being grown up with other people from the same generation and how to get along with them. A research by Mark McCrindle (2004) from the Australian Leadership Foundation, stated that when a teenager is making decision, the biggest factor determining is the experiences of their peer group of 3 to 8 friends. They are less make the decisions independently and by its core value. Stone, et al. (200 1 ) defined Gen Y that their peers group opinions are very important to individuals. Gen Y live in a culture encouraging them to embrace community values which this culture affects their visions and values on most of the things. This generation wants to be understood, accepted and respected from others, and included in a community(McCrindle, 2004). They spend most of their spare time with their peers and strongly loyalty to them. Therefore, their level of self-esteem often base on how well they communicate or interact in their social group. In a word, Gen Y is individualistic because they always expressed their opinion and being treated as individuals. They are very sociable and like being with their friends and included in a community at the same time. A study (Mason, Webber and Singleton, 2007) of an article(Jenkinson, 2008) observed that young people nowadays having grown up in a world that promotes individualism and consumerism.

Gen Y is living in an atmosphere that emphasis on communism and experienced new stuff the most compared to other generations. Also, they are easily influenced by others and social networks to decide what they are going to do especially when we talking about fashion trends and entertainments. Generation Y is a significant proportion of today’s consumers, 5.5 million population of Gen Y, representing approximately 25% of the total population, have been spending money/ participating in retail industry(Daniels, 2007). This generation is the largest demographic group in many developed countries and a highy lucrative population(Josewicz, 2003). By the year 2015, Gen Y will become the most significant retail spending group in Australia. Not just on retailing, Gen Y is also consumed by entertainment like music, television, movies, advertising, computer games, the Internet, clubs, extreme sports, even mobile phone ring tones(JonesLangLaSalle, 2003). So not just on shopping, Gen Y likes spending time or money on many kinds of entertainments. This generation have no financial commitments and over 70% of their income is spent randomly, with the majority going on entertainment, travel, and food. According to a result of a survey(Veda Advantage and Habbo Research of Australia) on Generation Y and saving money(Wilson, 2010), 35% of people interviewed saying they would spend their savings on technology, 32% saying that they are saving for a car and 21% for fashion and clothing. Only 19% said they were saving for a house. This showed that Gen Y is spending their money in tertiary sector rather than save money for their future use. Overall, Gen Y is spending many time or money in activities and products but lack of knowledge to save money.

To understand more about Gen Y, their mental health needs to be discussed. Woodman & Wyn(2011) stated that "Although young Australians may seem on the surface to be the luckiest generation ever, they have patterns of mental health that suggest they might not have it so good after all, with a quarter of young Australians experiencing some form of mental health problem."(2011). The Australian Bureau of Statistics data(2007) reveals that 26% of people aged between 16 to 24, about 650,000 people suffered mental illnesses in 2007. Generation Y is being suffering from depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse. 15% of young people were most commonly affected by anxiety problems like obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress. Around 13% suffered conditions related to dependency on alcohol or other drugs and 7% had mood illnesses such as depression and bipolar. The statistic shows that mental health problems among Gen Y is a very serious issue. Stress and anxiety can be caused by a variety of outside stimuli, such as financial worries, health issues, and family and job stress. Gen Y are increasinglyworried about the factors like youth unemployment rates and increasing housing costs, body image and crime rates(McCrindle, 2004). For example, Gen Y is feeling anxious about their jobs. 84% of young people who had mental illness problem were in both education and work(ABS, 2007). That is a significant statistic showing young people’s mental health is influenced by working environment. Gen Y feeling work stress is positively related to the economic phenomenon in the society, and also the culture of being emphasized that having a stable financial situation is important in real lives.

=**__Cultural and__** __Social__ **__Analysis__** =

Gen Y, as consumers, they are independent, non-traditional and sophisticated, brand and fashion conscious(McLean, 2004). When Gen Y goes shopping, they are not just simply purchasing. A study by Dias (2003) observed that most of Gen Y was tended to shop with friends, spend more time browsing through stores and chatting. Therefore, the shopping pattern is not just spending money but communicate more with their friends at the same time. Every Gen Y has their own individually thoughts and opinion. But the study (dias, 2003) showed that there is a close relationship when it comes to shopping and they might affected by their peers' views. Over 70% of Gen Y income is mostly spent on entertainment, travel, and food(McCrindle,2004). So not just on retailing, they spent quite a lot of money on these 3 sectors. The top 3 spare time activities are “go to a party” (74%); listen to the radio” (74%); and “go to a movie” (72%) (McCrindle, 2004). There is a potential health risk behavior of Gen Y going to a party. If young people are drinking alcohol and taking drugs, they might feel the peer pressure and even take drugs to try to fit in with their mates, which inthe future that they may have a chance to suffer from the dependency of drugs or alcohol.

Some Gen Y is having anxiety problems because of financial problems and related pressure from the society. Even though they have financial pressure, some of them chose those elements like training, management style, work flexibility, staff activities, and non-financial rewards more than salaries(Sydney Morning Herald). They like searching for fun, for quality friendships and a fulfilling purpose in their jobs. Peer group is the biggest factor which influences Gen Y to choose a career(Australian Leadership Foundation). Moreover, most of Gen Y is concerning their body images because the society has created a culture that body image is the best with the terms “slim”, “fashionable” to describe people are very forward and "in" to the society. They are worried about what people think about them by using what kinds of "in" products or whether they keep up the fashion trends. This would lead to the shopping consumption level going higher and showed that the power among peer groups is very influential.

Gen Y is feeling high levels of financial pressure(McCrindle,2004). Today’s young people will earn less than their parents in real terms. Some of them have to pay off their personal loans, credit cards or even need to support themselves. People who are suffering mental illness (especially severe) may have difficulties to manage their work or study(ABS, 2007). Young people who have anxiety problem, which defined as one of the mental illnesses, may affect their performances in work, possibly in the end, lose their jobs or worse the illness problem. The relationship between consumption patterns and mental health status of generation Y is positively related, since their behaviors are most influenced by their peers because they care about what their friends think of, and the invisible pressure under the society which may leds to mental illness problems, for example, economic condition.

=__**Analysis of the Artefact and Reflections**__ =

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">My artefact represents the thoughts of Gen Y. Firstly, there are two groups of population: huppies & Yuppies (Gen Y), express their own thoughts. Each of them has his own thinking ( two seperate bubbles) to show what they want. it shows that they have individual thinking in their own group. According to "Retail Therapy"(Daniels, 2007), Gen Y is demanded to be treated as individuals and has distinctive thinking. Moreover, the contrast in the artefact between two groups show that Gen Y is a unique generation that they are different to the others(things that they are pursuing and what they want for their lives). The yellow shirt with a price tag shows that Gen Y is consumeristic and items inside the bubble are mainly popular personal- use products or items that they cannot live without nowadays.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Through the process of researching about Gen Y, I think Gen Y is a interesting generation that worth to investigate into. Even though Gen Y is mostly affected by their peers and the social and cultural trends, their thinkings still partly influenced by their parents behavious or the moral values which developed by the past generations. Mental health problem is definately a serious issue that Public Health experts or other health professionals should be more concern of. It is hard to decide whether Gen Y is "individualistic" or "consumer- obsessed" or not. As my own knowledge, Gen Y is has their own thoughts but easily affected by their friends; spend most their money on tertiary sector but it does not mean they are not concern about their financial abilities. = =

= = =**__Reference List__**=

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). Mental Health of Young People. Retrieved from []=

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Culture War, Class War Chapter Four: Drugs of Choice and Generational Cultures – Concocted Worlds. (n. d.) Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Daniels, S. (2007). Retail Therapy. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Jenkinson, P. (2008). Inside the mind of the iGeneration. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">McCrindle, M. (n.d.). The ABC of XYZ: Generational Diversity at Work. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">McCrindle, M. (2004). Understanding Generation Y. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Parker, R. S., Haytko, D. L., & Hermans, C. M. (2009). Individualism and collectivism: Reconsidering old assumptions. Journal of International Business Research, 8(1), 127-127-139. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">What characterizes generation Y employees?. (n. d.) Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Wilson, A. (2010). Interesting statistics on Gen Y and money. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Woodman, D., & Wyn, J. (2011, Mar 10). We love labels, but should know the limits before libelling gen Y. The Age, pp. 15. Retrieved from []

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