Young people have been "conditioned" by older generations to not be "resilient" to trauma, according to a journalist. 

Following the flurry of outrage surrounding the difficulty of a paper in the Leaving Certificate last week, Irish Examiner’s Special Correspondent, Mick Clifford, decided to write an article entitled 'Today's youth have been conditioned to inflate every disappointment into a trauma.'

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Mr Clifford said he had been "taken aback" by the "overreaction" of some young people to the exam.

"Why are those pressures there on young people today?'" he said.

"There are far more pressures than my generation had – they have a lot more to be going on with.

"We seem to be heaping on these pressures, that there would be such a reaction to that Leaving Cert paper."

Education

Mr Clifford said the emphasis on education and examinations amongst younger generations fuels the pressure they put on themselves.

"Back to our Leaving Cert, I don't think we had the same expectations coming into it or coming out of it that people have today," he said.

"They're living in a different country effectively.

"The pressure that's applied in the Leaving Cert ... such an emphasis is being placed on it, and an emphasis that is not deserved. "

From adults

Mr Clifford argued that a large portion of the "overreaction" from young people derives from the "conditioning" of their parents.

"Why have we fashioned the upcoming generation to react in such a manner?" he said.

"It would seem to me that there's an issue around resilience.

"How are younger people going to deal with real issues of trauma going through life that we all have to deal with?

Mr Clifford suggested the "lack of resilience" was potentially linked to parents' desire not to avoid heightening the societal pressure their children already experience, rather than having them confront it.

"I think it is a mistake and I have to pull myself up on it because I'm exactly the same in that we want to avoid stresses rather than attempting to let them be able to take on board the stresses and deal with them," he said.

"We're overcompensating in other ways and perhaps doing them a disservice.

"Those kinds of pressures they're feeling, that's the fault of my generation – so, we need to try and do something better."