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What's happening to the baby boomers?




Studies show that as people age they don’t get as angry as they used to, nor as quickly as they used to, because they are more likely to see the positive aspects of life, not the negative ones. They solve emotional conflicts more effectively and are more likely to forgive and forget (Time, 12 May 2016, published in the 23 May issue).

The Stanford Center on Longevity conducted a study of baby boomers. Baby boomers are getting older – aren’t we all? Baby boomers are the generation born between 1946 to 1964. The study, called the Sightlines Project, tracked six cohorts on a number of variables that predict length of life and quality of life in eight multiyear studies on millions of Amercans over a period of 20 years. Instead of comparing older people to younger people the Sightlines Project compares people today with people who were the same age as them 20 years ago.

The results showed that people who are in the 55-64 year age group now – the baby boomers – are significantly less ‘socially engaged’ than people of their age 20 years ago. This means that they are less likely to participate in community or religious organizations than their counterparts were 20 years ago. Yet other studies on age show that social engagement – meeting friends and being part of a group or organization – has positive effects on health and longevity. Researchers say that social isolation – i.e. not being socially engaged – is a strong factor is declining health and a shortening of life. So what’s happening to the baby boomers?

The boomers are less likely to be married. They don’t talk much to their neighbours, they have weaker links to friendship groups, and they are less likely to join groups or organizations. If boomers are married, they are even talking less frequently to their spouses and partners than their generation of 20 years ago. Are baby boomers isolating themselves? Is it a major concern for society?

The Sightlines Project does not give definitive answers. The Sightlines Project generated hypotheses from the historical data. The results could be due to the boomers working longer, and therefore their friendship groups and organizational groups are linked to work-related interactions. Work provides them with social connections.

Another possibility is that boomers are interacting with social groups in different ways than 20 years ago, such as through social media, and participating in global communities and global networks. Yet another theory is that the boomers rejected family values years ago, and therefore social disengagement, divorce, independence, and so on, evolved as they aged. Boomers are the most divorced generation in history.

The findings are interesting because, as the researchers state, the boomers professed to build a better world – and now, have they dropped the ball? The researchers are worried that the health of the boomers will suffer if they withdraw from society.

Laura Carstensen, the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, adds that if the boomers stay socially engaged, they might ‘spark a second social revolution’ – a veritable ‘army of millions of gray-haired people, better educated than any previous generation, armed with unprecedented financial resources, and decades of experience, ready to solve the practical problems of life.’





MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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