Tag Archive for 'Gen Z'

Gen Z and Millenials: Stress and anxiety remain high

Young people born between 1996 and 2010 (aged between 28 and 14) belong to Generation Z, while Millennials refer to those born between 1980 and 1995 (aged between 44 and 30). These distinctions are somewhat rigid because these categories consider differences of about 15 years between the two age extremes, and obviously, a teenager starting high school at 14 is very different from a 28-year-old who should already have years of work experience. The same goes for Millennials, where some have passed 40 years old while the other extreme is approaching 30.

So, keeping these differences in mind, it is still interesting to consider the data from a study conducted in 2023 by Deloitte to analyze these types of groups. The results were as follows:

Nearly half of Generation Z members (46%) and four in ten Millennials (39%) report feeling frequently stressed or anxious at work.

Their long-term financial futures, day-to-day financial availability, and the health/well-being of their families are the main sources of stress, as well as concerns about mental health and work-related factors such as high workloads, work-life imbalance, and unhealthy team cultures. Generation Z and Millennials are reporting increasingly high levels of burnout due to work-related pressures.

More than half of the participants acknowledge that their employers are taking mental health more seriously, and that their efforts to improve workplace mental health are having a positive impact. However, mental health support and resources are still underutilized, likely due to the social and workplace stigma that still surrounds them.

Generation Z and Millennials have conflicting feelings about the impact of social media on their mental health. Nearly half say they have a positive impact, but over 40% state that they make them feel lonely or inadequate and that they feel pressured by constant online presence.

Coaching Generation Z athletes

Michael Mignano is one of the authors of this article on Generation Z: Gould, D., Nalepa, J., & Mignano, M. (2019). Coaching Generation Z athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.

Based on the data collected, he recently wrote some recommendations for coaching these young people born since 1996.

The uniqueness of Generation Z lies in the rapid onset of these changes, most likely due to technological advancements that have caught teachers, coaches, and support staff off-guard. So, how can adults work most effectively with Generation Z athletes? The following are suggestions based on empirical research of the topic:

  • Explain the ‘Why.’ With technology and information at their fingertips, Generation Z athletes expect adults to have done their homework. Providing a quick rationale for training methods and practice plans can improve motivation and effort of young people. It also reduces the inevitable ‘why’ questions from both athletes and parents.
  • Communicate Effectively. While face-to-face communication is not a strength of Generation Z athletes, coaches and support staff can challenge young athletes by asking open-ended questions, using text messaging only for logistical communication, practicing face-to-face conversations in team meetings or training, and switching up the methods of communication (i.e., videos, articles, and demonstrations) to aid messaging.
  • Be Direct. With shorter attention spans of Generation Z athletes, coaches and support staff can adapt by making their messages more direct at the start and end of training sessions and during pre-game or half-time speeches.
  • Focus on Quality Over Quantity. Today’s young athletes (and their parents) are more in tune with strength and conditioning techniques as well as injury prevention. Coaches and support staff can assist by being aware of overtraining and burnout symptoms and using periodization principles when scheduling training and competitions.
  • Build Independence. Undoubtedly, Generation Z athletes are more dependent on significant adults than any other cohort in history. By giving athletes some autonomy, choice, and responsibility, coaches and support staff can give them more ownership and develop skills related to independence. For example, providing opportunities for decision making, critical thinking, and accountability can help athletes with personal and professional development.
  • Promote Resiliency. While each generation is considered “softer” than the previous one, Generation Z is known to have heightened difficulties dealing with adversity. Coaches and support staff can create opportunities for athletes to cope with adversity and learn perseverance and resilience. Creating pressure and challenging situations in training, along with teaching appropriate coping strategies, may assist Generation Z athletes with how to better handle competitive and personal setbacks.

While more research is needed on generational differences in today’s athletes, early studies have provided insight into some unique characteristics of Generation Z. Coaches and support staff can benefit from this knowledge and adapt their teaching and coaching philosophies to suit today’s young athletes.

References

Gould, D., Nalepa, J., & Mignano, M. (2019). Coaching Generation Z athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology

Coaching Z generation

Daniel Gould, Jennifer Nalepa & Michael Mignano (2019). Coaching Generation Z Athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 32:1, 104-120.

Although it has always been essential that coaches adapt their coaching to athlete characteristics, this may be more important today than ever before as coaches adjust to a new generation of athletes who have grown up in a total digital age, which has had major effects on their characteristics and ways of behaving.

Today’s young athletes represent Generation Z (Gen Z):

  • Youth born after 1996, making up 26% of the U.S. population and 27% of the world population
  • Gen Z youth, they have been influenced by socioeconomic uncertainty (e.g., the global recession of 2008), international terrorism (e.g., 9/11) and natural disasters (e.g., Hurricane Katrina)
  • They are the best-educated generation in history and are the first generation of youth who have grown up in a totally digital environment, which has resulted in Gen Z youth having excellent technology skills
  • At the same time, because of the amount of time they spend on technology, they are thought to have shorter attention spans, the need for frequent feedback, and a lack of independence

Social psychologist Jean Twenge (2017):

  • Today’s youth grow up more slowly (e.g., engage in sex at a later age, hold off longer on obtaining a driver’s license, engage in alcohol consumption later than their millennial predecessors) and are the most protected and safest generation ever but at the same time avoid adult responsibilities such as moving out of the house and becoming financially independent.
  • Growing up in the digital world spend less time in direct contact with their friends and loved ones. This is one reason they have highest ever generational reports of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Finally, growing up in a highly engaging digital world, Gen Z youth’s attention spans are shorter, and they often multitask even when this may not be effective.

Encel, Mesagno, and Brown (2017) surveyed 298 British athletes to determine both their Facebook use and if Facebook use was related to anxiety. Results revealed that 68% of the athletes used Facebook within 2hr of competition, and time spent on social media was related to the Concentration Disruption subscale of the Sport Anxiety Scale.

At the beginning stages of working with Gen Z athletes, coaches felt that athletes lacked the ability deal with adversity.

Overtime, with structured resilience-building practices, coaches observed an improvement in Gen Z athletes’ abilities to handle adversity. By creating stressful practice situations and coaching athletes through them, Gen Z athletes improved their resiliency.

Athletes did not respond well to negative feedback. Athletes often took negative feedback personally and would get upset when confronted with criticism.

Gen Z athletes show short attention spans. Coaches also found that Gen Z athletes were easily distracted and had difficulty blockling out distractions.

Gen Z athletes were perceived to need structure and boundaries to guide them through their tennis development.

Gen Z athletes were mostly extrinsically motivated by results, material things, and social comparison. Coaches discussed how pressure from parents and coaches served as extrinsic sources that drove players motivation.  In terms of work ethic, most coaches discussed how Gen Z athletes worked hard and had a strong work ethic once on the tennis court.

Gen Z athletes had poor communication skills. Coaches believed that players had difficulty expressing their emotions, were shy and hesitant to speak up, and lacked basic conversational skills (i.e., eye contact).

Coaches also felt that Gen Z players would check what they were told by the coach and were not quick to believe something just because the coach had said it.

Coaches felt that today’s athletes were more educated than in past generations as they had access to an abundance of information online and had excellent technology skills that made finding information easy for them.

Gen Z athletes were perceived to be visual learners, which was discussed as a strength, as coaches were able to incorporate technology as a learning aid during practice and training. Last, coaches felt that athletes were curious and open to learning from coaches through their need to understand the “why” and the connection to performance.