Last month, five San Diego State University psychologists released a study after examining the responses of nearly 17,000 college students who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.

The researchers found that among college students over the past 25 years, current students are more likely to answer affirmatively to questions such as, “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,” “I think I am a special person,” and “I can live my life any way I want to.” In fact, by 2006 two-thirds of the students had above-average scores — 30% more than in 1982.

These results confirm what educators and psychologists have been grumbling about for years: This generation of 18-to-25-year-olds might be the most narcissistic generation ever.

“When a few students were sick and missed an exam 20 years ago, they used to be apologetic and just grateful that I would even offer a makeup,” a Harvard professor said. “These days I have kids who think it’s no big deal to miss a test if they have any conflict and then they think they should decide when I give the makeup. My students are more self-absorbed than ever.”

The study’s lead researcher, Jean Twenge, author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before” (Free Press), said the results have broad and worrisome implications for young Americans, as well as for the country.

“If there are more narcissists in the society, we would expect more people would favor short-term sexual relationships over long-term emotionally satisfying relationships,” Ms. Twenge said. “Narcissists lack empathy and emotional warmth. They are less able to imagine someone else’s perspective. Narcissists can’t handle criticism and are more concerned with self-promotion than with helping others.”

Ms. Twenge, who has also studied generational differences in anxiety, aggression, and self-esteem, said there are seven qualities that have been statistically associated with narcissism, six of which she confirms are also on the rise.

“When there are more narcissists, you would expect to see an increase in materialism, celebrity worship, gambling, cheating, the number of hook-ups, higher expectations of one’s self but no more success, and the amount of teen crime and aggression,” Ms. Twenge said. “Only the last variable, crime and aggression, hasn’t risen over the last 25 years.”

When I asked how she measured students having higher expectations of themselves and then gauging their success, she explained: “In 1976, 26% of high school students said they were going to get a graduate degree. That number jumped to 50% in 2006. Yet the number of people acquiring graduate degrees has stayed flat, ” she said.

Other recent statistics about this cohort are troubling. Although the conventional wisdom about Gen Y (also called Generation Me or Millennials) is that they are civic-minded and focused on helping those in need, a 2006 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that this generation is most concerned with getting rich. A survey of 579 18-to-25-year-olds found that the most important goals are to get rich (81%), to be famous (51%), to help people in need (30%), to be leaders in their community, (22%) and to become more spiritual (10%).

A recent study conducted by the University of California–Los Angeles confirmed that having money is more important than ever for college students. Nearly 75% of its 2005 freshman class say it is “essential” or “very important” to be “very well off financially” — up from nearly 63% in 1980, and only 42% in 1967. In that year, 40 years ago, 86% of the class felt that “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” was important, whereas only 45% of the freshman class agree with that statement today.

A psychologist on the Upper East Side said he is not surprised by the findings. “The kids born in the 1980s grew up having every moment of their lives documented by their camera-wielding parents, who specialized in leniency and coddling,” he said. “Teachers and parents and Barney were busy telling them how special they were on a daily basis. They don’t know life without the Internet, and have been fed a steady diet of reality shows and Paris Hilton. Now [their] need to be in the spotlight continues to be satisfied with Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. They’re not called Generation Me for nothing.”

sarasberman@aol.com