Psychologists say more and more young people are entitled

Research has discovered that large amounts of young people are developing an entitlement complex.

The psychological trend comes from the belief that you are superior to others and are more deserving of certain things.

This form of narcissism has some significant consequences such as disappointment and a tendency to lash out.

Psychology Today reports that some examples of entitlement range from the disregard of rules, freeloading, causing inconveniences and like to assume the role of leader when working in groups.

Millennials, who were born roughly between 1988 and 1994, tend to have this characteristic as a 2016 study found.

The University of Hampshire found that youngsters who were studied on issues of entitlement scored 25 per cent higher than people aged 40 to 60 and 50 per cent higher than those over that age bracket.

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Dr Joshua Grubbs, who conducted the research, which was published in the Psychological Bulletin is quoted by Springas saying:

"At extreme levels, entitlement is a toxic narcissistic trait, repeatedly exposing people to the risk of feeling frustrated, unhappy and disappointed with life. Often times, life, health, ageing and the social world don’t treat us as well as we’d like. Confronting these limitations is especially threatening to an entitled person because it violates their worldview of self-superiority."

The study looked at 170 cases and determined that entitlement leads to a cycle of disappointment, anger, negativity and a constant need for that person to tell themselves that they are special.

Professor Julie Exline, who was also involved in the study added that this system only creates more issues and can lead to problems with other people: "The entire mindset pits someone against other people. When people think that they should have everything they want — often for nothing — it comes at the cost of relationships with others and, ultimately, their own happiness."

In order to break from this mentality experts believe that individuals should learn to become more humble, more grateful and accept their limitations.

Psychology Today also offers some other alternatives to solving the problem.

These include retrospectively reflecting on annoying incidents from someone else's perspective, promoting others achievements and stop justifying things to yourself that are wrong.

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