Millennials Deciphered in New Book Co-Authored by Saint Rose Professor

“The Millennial Mindset” Separates Fact From Fiction About Maligned Generation

ALBANY (June 13, 2016) — Who are Millennials?  Why do they matter?  Why should we care? Much of what is said about this generation of nearly 80 million born roughly between 1984 and 2002 is negative.

A new book by Professor Karen McGrath of The College of Saint Rose and Associate Professor Regina Luttrell of Eastern Michigan University examines the mindset of one of the most enigmatic generations in decades – Millennials – and offers the authors’ broader observations to parents, educators, future employers, co-workers and Millennials themselves.

In The Millennial Mindset: Unraveling Fact from Fiction (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016), the authors consider questions such as: Can Millennials be that bad? Are they really lazy, spoiled, entitled, condescending “know-it-alls”? If so, why? If not, then who are they, really?

Presented using a fact-or-fiction format, the professors, both of whom interact with Millennials daily, identify Millennial criticisms and then frame associated behaviors leveraging historical events to situate Millennials in today’s world. By examining characteristics of previous generations, the authors draw comparisons and offer contrasts of Millennials, while also introducing a new metaphor for many parents raising Millennials: “snow-plow parenting.”

The authors also identify seven characteristics that describe Millennials and lend their findings to decipher what’s fact and what’s fiction.

“Millennials are confident, connected, committed change agents, contradistinctive, cavalier and collaborative. They’ve been raised by parents who clear the path to success, much like a snowplow paves the way for a clean drive. This parenting style attributes to how Millennials perform in educational settings and in the workplace,” said McGrath.

The book includes numerous interviews with Millennials that provide insights into their perspectives on other generations, religion, relationships, education, money, sex and careers.

“Our hope is that we can better understand and accept the strengths that all individuals inherently possess in order to live cohesively,” Luttrell added.

McGrath and Luttrell’s book was a top “Hot New Release” on Amazon during April and May.

A professor of communications at Saint Rose, McGrath has been teaching for nearly 20 years.  Her interests include pop culture, media, gender and race, with her most recent publication focused on Sheldon Cooper, a character on the “The Big Bang Theory” portrayed by actor Jim Parsons.

Luttrell is an associate professor of public relations and social media at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti and author of Social Media: How to Engage, Share and Connect. An alumna of The College of Saint Rose, she has held leadership positions in corporate communications throughout her career.

The Millennial Mindset: Unraveling Fact from Fiction is available from Rowman and Littlefield and Amazon.

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