Millennials are lazy and spoiled. Well, a new study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin didn’t put in those exact words, but that’s pretty much the gist of it. According to researchers Jean Twenge (San Diego State University) and Tim Kasser (Knox College), youth are more likely to place a high value on material possessions (a new car, a vacation house, etc.) but are less likely to want to work for it. Indeed, 39 percent of folks in the millennial generation say they don’t want to work hard. That’s a drastic increase from the 25 percent of respondents who said the same thing in the 1970s. The researchers believe this rise in entitlement can be traced to the environment in which these kids were raised. “Youth raised during times of societal instability (e.g. unemployment) and disconnection (e.g. more unmarried parents) were especially likely to endorse materialistic values,” they wrote. “Furthermore, when a larger percentage of the nation’s economy was oriented toward advertising messages, youth were also likely to prioritize materialistic aims.” (Salon.com)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.