1.2. A DARKER SIDE

Some researchers tend to glamorize millennials and gloss over the generation's negative attributes. True, many young people today are healthy and well adjusted, with resumes chock-full of accomplishments. But like any generation, millennials have their share of vices as well as virtues. Some millennials engage in such unhealthy activities as binge drinking, abuse of both illegal and prescription drugs, and sexual promiscuity.

Research studies assessing the problems yield mixed results. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the rates of sexual activity and alcohol and drug use have declined in recent years among high school students. Even so, a CDC study in 2008 estimated that one in four teenage girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease. What's more, the Partnership for a Drug Free America's teen tracking study found that one in five had abused a prescription pain medication, and a similar number had abused prescription stimulants and tranquilizers. The partnership dubbed today's teens Generation Rx.

When the Pew Research Center asked an older group—18- to 25-year-olds—about negative behaviors, roughly 70% said they believe their generation engages more in violence to solve conflicts and more in binge drinking than young adults did 20 years ago. About 63% said their generation is illegally using drugs more, and three-quarters said casual sex is more prevalent. Indeed, older generations are especially critical of millennials for their emotionally uninvolved hook-ups and sexual relationships with "friends with benefits."

There is also a downside to the millennial generation's competitive drive. When Harris Interactive surveyed 8- to 21-year-olds in 2007, they said they worry more about getting good grades than anything else. This obsession with grades is leading some young millennials to become stressed out, anxious, and sleep deprived. Teachers also complain that in their quest to win admission to the most elite universities, millennials are much more concerned about high marks than about learning and enrichment.

Perhaps because of the intense pressure to succeed academically, cheating is widespread among twentysomethings. In a 2006 study of 32 graduate schools in the United States and Canada, researchers at Pennsylvania State University, Rutgers University, and Washington State University found that 56% of business school students admitted to cheating at least once in the previous academic year, as did 47% of non-business students. Although millennials contend that they want to work for companies with integrity, many of them apparently aren't living up to such high ethical standards themselves.