No, because it uses data from young people themselves. These studies compare young people’s views and behaviors to the views and behaviors of young people from previous generations. Of course, like any scientific study, these are average differences, so there are certainly exceptions. People from Minnesota (where I spent my childhood) are different from people from Texas (where I spent my adolescence), but there’s plenty of individual variation. Generations work the same way. There’s more on that here.

One other note: The trends reported in iGen are based on nationally representative samples, so they capture the experience of the typical teen. The generational trends are very consistent across race, gender, socioeconomic status, and region of the country, with just a few exceptions (for example, the mental health trends are larger among girls).