Millennial Generation (1980–2000)
The nurse of the future belongs to the Millennial
Generation (also called the Net Generation, or Generation
Y).44 Millennials were born between 1980
and 2000.44 This cadre of young people are more affluent,
hypereducated, ethnically diverse, and technologically
accomplished than any previous generation.44
Heralded as the next great generation,1 this
demographic will most resemble its third-generation
predecessors, the Veteran generation, in
sociopolitical attributes and work ethic. Notably
generous, sociable, practical, and morally civicminded,
this group is “like Gen X on fast-forward,
with self-esteem.”39(p271) The eldest of this cohort has
grown up amid the specters of designer drugs and
the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)
epidemic.45 They are intimate with the concept of
war, but for this generation the enemy may be