Originally published 12-16-04
The popular image of baby boomers is of white, suburban kids who grew up watching "The Mickey Mouse Club" and protested the Vietnam War, not the children who came of age during the Reagan era.

But a new study by two Duke University sociologists, released as the last of the boomers is turning 40, shows the Baby Boom as a diverse group of people whose experiences differ not only from those of previous generations, but also from each other.

Called "The Lives and Times of the Baby Boomers," this study takes a look at the generation born between 1946 and 1964 as they enter middle age...
Read the complete text of the original article here.

UPDATE: 1-26-05 Kim Campbell of the Christian Science Monitor wrote an article about this new study.

"There hasn't been a systematic assessment of the state of the boomers, in contrast to all the folklore and mythology we have about the baby boom," said Mary Elizabeth Hughes, one of the co-authors. "Looking at the boomers at midlife tells you where they've been and where they're going. This can tell you something about the boomers' collective old age."

Among the findings:

* Baby boomers are diverse: Immigration has played a major role in increasing the diversity of the baby boomers. About 12 percent of the early boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) are foreign-born, compared to 15 percent of late boomers (born between 1956 and 1964.) The percentage of African Americans has not changed a great deal over time, but the percentage of Hispanic and Asian Americans has increased dramatically.

* Diversity has not led to equality: Baby boomers are the first generation to come of age after the Civil Rights era. Yet the authors found differences of income according to race, ethnicity and country of birth so entrenched that, in effect, they are ethnic classes. Blacks in the boomer generation, for example, are no better off relative to whites than their parents and grandparents. And educational levels also are unequal across the baby boom generation, which is often described as the best-educated generation in history.

* Many boomers live in poverty: At midlife, boomers have the highest wage inequality of any recent generation. Late boomers have the highest levels of poverty since the generation born before World War I. One in 10 late boomers lives in poverty at middle age.

* "What surprised us the most was how racial inequality persists among the boomers compared to other generations," co-author Angela M. O'Rand said. "The figures are quite dramatic regarding the continuing relative disadvantage of African Americans."
TALKING 'BOUT MY GENERATION

Hughes, an assistant professor of sociology at Duke, and O'Rand, a professor of sociology, analyzed data from the 2000 Census to describe the baby boom generation at midlife and compare the baby boomers with four preceding generations using earlier census data.

It is part of "The American People" series, sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation of New York and the Population Reference Bureau of Washington, D.C., and is designed to put the results of Census 2000 in context. Each report is written by an author or team of authors selected for their expertise with the data and broad understanding of the implications of demographic trends. For more information about the series, including "The Lives and Times of the Baby Boomers," visit www.prb.org/AmericanPeople.

(The researchers themselves illustrate these differences: O'Rand, born four months before the official start of the baby boom, is a grandmother; Hughes, a late boomer born in 1962, has a child in preschool.)

They look at baby boomers' position in history, education, work life, families, income and wealth to provide a comprehensive picture of this complex generation, and to offer a look at what to expect as this group enters old age.

BABY BOOMERS AND THE POST-WAR TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

Hughes and O'Rand argue that the baby boom generation was pivotal. Its members were born into a nation transformed by four years of war, and as their lives unfolded they experienced social change and responded by creating new lifestyles that set the patterns for later generations.

"We all fall into talking about the baby boom as if it were a homogeneous group, but it's a very heterogeneous group," Hughes said. "And it's not just a semantic issue. If we are worried about the future as the boomers age, we need to be prepared for a very, very heterogeneous group of people."

The study challenges some of the assumptions that have grown up around the baby boom:

* Baby boomers did not all come of age during the turbulent 1960s: The demographic anomaly is that the baby boom stretched from 1946 to 1964. While the oldest of the early boomers graduated from college during the Summer of Love, the youngest of the late boomers left college during the Reagan years.

* Baby boomers were not all political radicals: Even for those boomers who were young adults during the late 1960s, opposition to the Vietnam War was far from universal, for example. One-third of the early boomers served in Vietnam, and younger voters were more likely to support conservative candidates. In 1968, many of George Wallace's supporters were young, Southern and rural.

* Baby boomers were not the first to reject the traditional family: Late marriage, permanent single status, small families, childlessness and divorce have a long history in the United States. The Ozzie-and-Harriet family of the 1950s was not the norm, but an extraordinary* and temporary* shift in historical patterns. It's the generation born before and during World War II, not the boomers, who had the sharpest increase in divorce.

BABY BOOMERS IN OLD AGE: GOLDEN YEARS OR TARNISHED YEARS?

As the oldest baby boomers approach 60, their future has been the subject of much anxious speculation, especially since inequities in wealth and income can be expected to persist* and even increase* as boomers age.

"In many ways, old age is a continuation of income inequality that begins at younger ages," O'Rand said. "Given that the baby boomer generation is now more unequal than others at the same ages, we can expert them to be more unequal in old age than previous generations."

The two sociologists offer some expectations for the future:

* Baby boomers are likely to extend midlife well into what used to be considered "old age." They will continue working longer, and responsibilities such as paying for college or having children at home will extend to older ages. They also are likely to enjoy good health and remain "actively engaged" longer than previous generations.

* Economic inequalities are likely to become more important as the boomers age. The least well-off may face higher risks of unemployment and worse health at a time when policy changes are encouraging them to remain at work longer. Low wages and job instability also may mean they have less saved than previous generations.

* Nontraditional families may pose new problems. Those who never married, had no children or were "absent fathers" may not be able to rely on family as part of their social safety net.

www.ascribe.org

As I age, I see a lot of the boomers that were 10 years before me and how much of their greed self obssessed lives have shoved a lot of later boomers into poverty. Housing is up to a point where if you do not make at least six figures you cannot afford it.

Places that were relatively cheap to live in and build on, they have come and eaten up the land...again greed has consumed the land and little boomers.

Those of us who are just beginning to make a decent salary, we are barely able to enjoy the money we make because the boomers of earlier have eaten up all the resources. Greedy little things aren't they.

It is sad to say that yes some of us will live in poverty or are living in poverty and that the rest
of us will fall by the wayside...The ME ME ME generation and their little spoiled unappreciative MTV Brats have helped.

I wish everyone would get over the faulty reasoning of the boomers as the greed generation. It's not about greed--it's about sheer numbers. If I read Later Boomer correctly, we old people should quit our jobs so she can find one, leave our homes so the housing market loosens up , forgo Social Security even though we've been contributing for 30-40 years, and bascially, just stop breathing her air.

I donât think that is what the late boomer is saying at all. I feel that what that person is say is that maybe your generation should not keep complaining. Your older generation elected the officials that squandered the Social Security funds, and yet you donât want to take responsibility for it. The idea is that older boomers like to pass the buck. So if youâre a well off boomer, you still want every penny of S.S at retirement age. I canât blame you either, but you see that means we will have to pay for your mistakes. Tell me that you did not expect the market crash, and Enron. I did not either, but I did have some common sense. I knew that a twenty percent return on the stock market was not anywhere near normal or sustainable. The older generation of boomers saw greed and thought they would be able to save for there retirement in a short amount of time. If the older boomers would have started saving for retirement when I was born; the market fluctuations and Enron would have bothered you in a small way. I think that late boomer is upset because of your generationâs greed. I drive to work and feel puny in my fuel efficient car, next to all the SUVâs and Hummers. I certainly can not afford a Hummer nor can most of my generation. The idea is quit being such gluttons. Let some other people enjoy a better standard of living.

I'm not at all sure why my generation is saddled with this image as the greedy, money-squandering, environment-raping tidal wave you younger folks moan and groan about. Last I checked---you have all been voting and consuming for at least the last decade or so.

Everyone I know has been saving since their children were born, working even longer, voting with their consciences, driving ecocomy-style, and generally hoping the world will put off destroying itself for a few more generations.

Any generation 90 million strong (in North America) is bound to have a huge impact on society, politics, and the economy. I am proud of the accomplishments of my generation and wish you would all stop whining and do your part.

Jan,

One thing that boomers should take into consideration is our generation did not elect the government that wasted the social security funds. During the gas crunch boomers were not outraged when car companies figured that attaching a truck frame to a car body would get them around emissions quotas. I bet you remember the first 4 wheel drive Jeep station wagon. Your correct, 90 million people control market trends. So dont you think that 90 million people buying economy cars would change the world. Strange, I seem to see lots more SUV's on the road than gas sippers. Either you dont have an impact or boomers are not really doing what you are saying and buying these gas sippers. And greedy and self centered is your generation to a tee. Why do you think we now have a drug to get an erection. Think about it Jan, that R and D money could have been used for better things. My generation is not having trouble in the bed room, so whom was that drug aimed at.

I am new to this site so hopefully the discussion is on-going. I am a early boomer and recall how the ww2 generation paid $7000 for a new house and got their degrees on the gi bill and were able to support a wife and 2+ kids on one salary. I also was envious; now the house that I fretfully paid $91k for is worth $375k. It all relative, younger boomers will soon learn that generation x and y will envy the fact you only paid 200K for your house. The unfortunate thing is we will never be able to go back to the time where a husband can work and support a wife and family on one income. And we have to fear our retirement I am hopeful that social security will pull through as it is now, a social contract that is also an insurance that will provide for disabled , widows(ERS), and children. It is not just a retirement but is a very important part of retirement that should supplement whatever you can set aside.

Jan:

As Loren pointed out, boomers can not be blamed for inflation. That should be blamed on the greed of everyone from every generation.

I believe it is the painfully obvious polar shift in the way that boomers brashly professed their beliefs and ideals in the past compared to their current behavior.

There used to be the idea of ãThe Free Storeä.
Now we are surrounded by shopping malls.
The popular saying used to be "Don't trust anyone over 30".
But now the behavior is "Don't hire anyone under 40".
The old saying was "Save the whales".
Now the behavior is "burn the gas".
The old saying was "Make love, not war".
Now the behavior is "Invade and take the oil".

I could go on but the point is that it seems that the baby boomer generation traded their ideals for selfishness and gluttony. It begins to look a bit hypocritical when you see the cerebral evolution that has taken place in the last 30 years.

No moaning here - just making observations.

alright you old folk need to stop bickering, theres no point arguing over what generation caused what... its done and over with. the babyboomers plain and simple have/will affect the economy and more. its the circle of life and i just wanna say to tim; i find your then/now statements interesting. i agree with most of it but you cant say that people dont hire anyone under 40.. its simply not true. and the last statement is so astonishingly accurate of these times. americans think that we are invading iraq to create order, but not me, and certainly not other countries. i think we are doing it to build an alliance with the oil countries, which is only going to fuel anger in the countries that are facing similar oil problems as us. times like these are exciting, yet leave you with an uneasy fealing because you know something drastic is going to happen but you dont know what, or when.. and more importantly how big of an impact its going to leave us as americans. the end is near my friends, lets stop pointing the finger and work together towards the correction of old mistakes.

to larry - you cant blame 90,000,000 people for market trends.. you can blame the ceo's and the people behind the innovative automobile ideas.

"surprising" insights, indeed. I say, it's about time someone noticed that the old assumption about baby boomers "coming of age" in the '60s doesn't apply to almost half of the stated year range of baby boomers. People want to assume, I guess, that I "came of age" at 7, the age I was in 1969, supposedly one of the defining years of the baby boom generation.

1946-1964 is too long for a generation. For one thing it seems ,by definition, wrong for a generation to be able to give birth to itself.

1946-1958 would seem more realistic. People born in 1964 would seem to have little in common with someone born in 1946. At least as far as childhood and growth experiences go.

Generation Jones has been used to describe this discrepancy. I think somewhat appropriately.

The boomers are starting to retire and I am so happy. Your generations greed and arrogance knows no bounds. Everything you have touched in the last 30 years has turned to crap. EVERYTHING.

Including, it would appear, our offspring.

Not all boomers have themselves on their mind. One of the words used in the report was heterogeneous - look it up. I believe the last part of the word means shareing freely. Take a look at web site boomer1.com.

I have struggled to keep a beautiful home open for the elderly. It not only takes everything that it brings in but I maintain another business which helps keep it open. We are all going to be old someday, if we live? :)

Compassion for others will be the key to making our nation work as the halls and rooms fill with elderly who are poor or unable to maintain a home. We are called boomers now but what will the next wave be called after we are all gone?

yo. i juss wanna say.
YALL STRAIT TRIPPIN.
chillaxx!
<33 me

This is my first visit to this site and I must say that the conversation is rigorous! I am one of the early boomers and have paid in to Social Security for 40 years now. The whole idea was that were paying for the generation collecting ahead of us. What is tough to swallow is that the size of the generation paying in was much larger than the group collecting and the surplus should have been sufficient with the taxes of those behind us added in. Just take a glance at economics and you will see that fund were being taken out of the surplus to offset the trade deficit. Of course, once we early boomers got word of it, of course it stopped. The whole idea of our wonderful government was to, again, keep the picture from looking so bleak in terms of the deficit. And let's not forget the $87 billion dollar war that is now at a trillion dollars with no end in sight. Oh, and yes, let's not forget the millions that are getting free health care within this country that are here illegally or the rich ones that fly in to Miami for medical treatment and skip out on the bills. The great state of Texas had three border hospitals go bankrupt and close down. The answer is that big business rules all of us and controls the government. And let's not forget the pork belly additions to bills. I am sure you have seen the headlines of millions going to some great thing but if you read the bill a lot more went to "buy" the vote with pork belly add-ons. Another reason not to allow the line-item-veto.

But I digress! I for one have always driven a small, economical car, practice recycling and turn the water off when I brush! I am only now in a van because I have a grown son in a wheelchair from muscular dystrophy. Oh, and should I mention that we had to file two appeals when he was 18 to get SSI for him? Yes, Social Security turned him down three times! And could he live on $600 a month if he was capable of living on his own? I think not. So I will continue to support my son and will have to work well past my retirement years. You see, I had to pay all of his medical bills from birth to 20 because I didn't have an income below the poverty level. It is only recently that I was able to save enough money to buy a house for us. No, I am not in one of those markets with double digit price escalations. You can still get a new 3 BDR, 2 BA here for $160,000 and I live in the Atlanta suburbs.

So that is enough from me on my first visit to this site. But before the young folks set out on their stock market investments to pay for their retirement you might want to take a look at what happened in England with that concept. Oops..the market dropped and now England wants a Social Security program! My hat is off to you if you are able to practice the concept of paying yourself first to prepare for your retirement. I truly hope that life doesn't get in your way!

I have been researching about generations for 2 years. I had to because what I did and how I worked with people 5 years ago no longer works. All that I want is be responsible and be held accountable for my job performance. All that I want is to be able to communicate with the younger team members as we all want success for ourselves and our companies. All that I want is to teach them all that I know so they can take my seat one day. But it has been difficult. If we would all learn to respect and trust each other who cares what the age difference is. I have tried to learn how to speak to younger team members without them being insulted but it is a 2 way street. I have learned if I am working with an X'er vs a Y'r how to present. Life at work use to be easy but it has become quite a challenge anymore. I am all for new technology and working with this smart group of young people but we both need to change a bit. Still working on the method of communication or non-communication and what it means as you can read into an expression or a comment completely wrong. Definately not easy, always a challenge. Life goes on.

I found it sad that all that is going on in this forum is finger pointing. Obviously whether you are an older boomer or a later boomer you are missing the point with all this name calling - I see just as many late boomers as older boomers doing all that is mentioned and as a matter of fact more of the late boomers were making killings in the stock market and driving SUV's so what is the point? There is so much ecconomic and political clout waiting to be exercised - stop arguing and do something. Early or late, rich, poor or in between,let's face it, the boomers are not using the power they ALL share, their numbers.

I notice that while the powers that be are getting more and more groups to spend their time bickering and pointing fingers, the ship is burning. I suggest that all sides read the plans laid out by Grover Norquist to create this turmoil in order make the nation dependent on the welfare of the rich. While you whine and whine instead of drawing together and taking responsibility for running this country, you are all being eaten alive and thinking your parent or child is doing the hunting. I am sick and tired of all of you cowards who are not willing to step up and face the world instead of just whining about how it is someone else's fault or someone else's responsibility.

It is all you boomer's fault. Instead of uniting and changing something like Americans have done in the past, you all look to try to find who's fault it is, while the leaders (that you have the numbers to control and you appointed) laugh at you fighting each other on their way to the bank. You guy's never united, you were all too self centered, therefore resulting in the SS mess and whatever other crap this world has going on. Thanks for leaving us with this crap to try to fix it up. Great contribution to man kind. A bunch of walking complaining hard-ons Good luck

Wow, it's unbelievable the deterioration of discussion. It sounds like the kids bawling out their parents. We had conflicts with our parents, too . . . but more outrageously than spite and malice. We changed the world, and the advantages we gained for the younger generations are merely taken for granted -- of course. The richest generation in the history of mankind is the generation just before us. Cheer up and enjoy your lives! Life throughout the entire history of mankind is tentative -- so be alive and enjoy your experience!!!! Being hateful isn't enjoyable for anyone, but it hurts the hater far more than the hated. Different from this younger generation, we had MUSIC to hold and bond us together through Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots in the cities, a job market that was smaller than our generation...YES, we had . . . and still have . . . the MUSIC!

Solotramp

One question that is totally overlooked by boomers is this:
What generation is going to take care of you when you are old?
Something to seriously consider.
Would you rather be treated with respect in your golden years and pay through the nose? - or - Would you rather be treated like crap in your old age and pay through the nose?
The choice is yours right now....

All of your arguments on this blog are sinceless and foolish. The words of children blaming each other. Some of you are just repeating what you heard your parents say and most of you don't know what your talking about. Besides I don't see any of your names with the politicians makeing a differece to prove your accusations about the Boomers. So whatever your complaint is you need to voice your opinion to our Government Officals. Alot of you, I see need American History agian because you didn't get it the first time and a Economic History course.

I was just wondering if there is any connection between being a baby boomer and having trouble sleeping. I have spoken with several other boomers and it seems that we all share the same problem with getting to sleep without some kind of a pill to help us turn off our minds and actually get a restful nights sleep.I was looking for some kind of stats on this but could find nothing at all in this area. I would be interested in knowing the stats on it.

Interesting comments all. The point that has been missed in all the gripe remarks is that every generation has impacted the country, some for the better and some for the worse. Only history and time will tell what subsequent generations leave as their legacy.

Blaming the history of an entire country on a 19 year time span shows a lack of knowledge. There were 2 World Wars preceding the Baby Boom, a depression, serious stock market crash and least we all forget Viet Nam impacted the generation in the first public display of the horrors of war.

Before you condemn those who went before, live long enough to understand that choices made may have been the best option at the time.