What are traits of Generation X-ers and the traits of Generation Y-ers?

In the United States and some other areas of the Western World, Generation X and Y are terms describing people born within a particular time period and exhibiting distinctive cultural characteristics.

Generation X is considered to be made up of the people born between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. This is the generation following the "baby boomers" of the area immediately after World War II. There are no clean, fixed dates for the...

In the United States and some other areas of the Western World, Generation X and Y are terms describing people born within a particular time period and exhibiting distinctive cultural characteristics.

Generation X is considered to be made up of the people born between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. This is the generation following the "baby boomers" of the area immediately after World War II. There are no clean, fixed dates for the beginning and end of any one generation, rather certain behaviors or attitudes are more indicative of a person's generational identity. Generation X-ers have been shaped as the first American generation to have grown up with high rates of divorce. Many people of this generation have been exceedingly cautious in their own family planning to avoid the perils of divorce, and they are the most highly educated as a generation. Generation X-ers are considered to be cautious, skeptical, pragmatic, and self-reliant. They may be mistrustful of institutions and like to "break the rules." They are also considered to be the first generation which has openly accepted diversity in the sense of racial and ethnic identities, gender expression, sexuality, and bodily ability.

Generation Y, or "Millennials," are those people born between the early 1980s and and late 1990s. Millennials have been shaped through high exposure to technology, and many have been "tech literate" from early childhood onward. Millennials are very inventive and while individualistic, are highly interested in fostering strong communities on both local and global levels. Millennials are keenly aware of globalization and may seek to disengage from institutions they do not trust or approve of. Millennials are often accused of being narcissistic or self-focused, and though they are characteristically the most anxious generation, they are also more optimistic than older adults.