[The Dad Fisherman]

The Smug Generation: How parents who idolise their children create lazy, incompetent adults

Modern parents heap so much praise on their children that they are creating a 'smug generation' with little idea of the real world, warn psychologists.

Such youngsters are full of self-confidence, believe they are more intelligent than the previous generation and claim they will make better workers, spouses and parents than their own mother and father.

In fact they work less hard than their parents did as children and are generally less competent, it is claimed.

Young people who have been overpraised and so have a high sense of self-worth may face problems later in life, according to scientists.

They are heading for a shock when the harsh realities of life overtake their expectations.

Much of this is the fault of their parents from the Baby Boom generation-born in the 1950s and 1960s, who fawn over and idolise them.

Blame can also be attached to modern education systems which give too-high marks, says a report in the journal Psychological Science.

Professor Jean Twenge, head of psychology at San Diego University and lead author of the report, said: 'Boomer parents are more likely than any group of parents before them to praise children - and maybe overpraise them.

'This can foster great expectations or perhaps even smugness about one's chances of reaching the stars at work and in family life. Their narcissism could be a recipe for depression later when things don't work out as well as they expected.'

Researchers examined nearly 40 years of results from an annual U.S. survey called Monitoring the Future.

Comparing answers given in 1975 with those in 2006, they found that a third more 17-to-20-year-olds today believe they work harder than their parents did and will be better than them in important adult roles both at home and at work.

But while today's teenagers are smug about their achievements and their futures, they actually do 20 per cent less homework than teenagers in 1975 and are generally less competent than their parents when they were young, said the report.

Professor Twenge said: 'Just as today's high-school students are getting better grades for doing less work, students on average are more satisfied with themselves and expect better outcomes.

'Modern culture seems to be teaching young people to be overconfident.'

Fellow researcher Keith Campbell, of the University of Georgia, said: 'Previous generations had more realistic ambitions. Today's teenagers have been taught to reach for the moon without being warned that many of them will not make it.'

Dr Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, said that young people with big egos are likely to create problems for those around them and end up depressed.

'Many people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s say, "Nothing I did was ever good enough for my parents".

'Now we're seeing the pendulum swing the other way, and you hear that kids have become more fragile because of all the praise they've received. They don't take criticism well.'

Norman Wells, director of the British organisation Family and Youth Concern, said: 'This study highlights the danger that awarding young people higher marks for less effort and lower levels of achievement may not be doing them any favours in the longer term.'