Jean Twenge – Author Biography
Early Life
Jean M. Twenge is an American psychologist. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and her PhD in psychology from the University of Michigan, training in personality and social psychology with a focus on generational differences.
Career
Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, where she has spent her career studying how generations differ — in attitudes, mental health, work habits, and technology use. Her first major book, Generation Me (2006), argued that young Americans had become more narcissistic, anxious, and unhappy despite unprecedented self-esteem messaging. She followed it with The Narcissism Epidemic (2009, with W. Keith Campbell). Her most influential book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood (2017), used large-scale survey data to argue that the smartphone era, beginning around 2012, had profoundly and suddenly reshaped teenage life — increasing loneliness, anxiety, and depression while decreasing dating, driving, and face-to-face socializing. Generations (2023) extended her analysis across six American generations. Her research on the mental-health effects of social media has made her a central, sometimes controversial, voice in debates about technology and youth.
Major Works
Twenge’s major works are Generation Me (2006), The Narcissism Epidemic (2009, with W. Keith Campbell), iGen (2017), and Generations (2023).
Writing Style and Themes
Twenge writes as a data-driven diagnostician: her books are built on massive datasets — national surveys of millions of young people — presented through clear charts and plain-spoken analysis. Her central method is generational comparison, isolating when trends changed to identify causes. Her great theme is that technology, particularly the smartphone and social media, has rewired coming of age, with measurable costs to adolescent mental health. Critics dispute her causal claims, but her descriptive findings about rising teen anxiety and loneliness are widely cited.
Legacy
Jean Twenge is one of the most influential researchers on generations and technology, and iGen helped launch the global conversation about smartphones and teen mental health — a debate that has since shaped policy, from school phone bans to social-media regulation. Her work sits at the center of one of the defining public-health questions of the digital age.
