Anxiety-Prone Boomers

Posted by: Gene M. | Dec 12,2007

Here’s a strange survey: a university in Australia has shown that Boomers have a much higher rate of mental difficulties than those above the age of 65. This ties together somewhat with my post yesterday about the Me Generation.  The pampered lifestyle of Boomers may not be so psychologically healthy.  

Down at the bottom of the article, it says this, “We’ve had to struggle, we didn’t have access to credits cards, if we wanted something we had to save for it, but the present generation really haven’t had to do that, if they wanted something, they just had to grab their credit card and go out and get it.”  It’s a curious thought: the idea that because Boomers have had it easier, they are less mentally prepared for adversity.  

For many Boomers this adversity might show up first in retirement.  The live-for-the-now Me generation might not be financially prepared for the future, so their quality of life might be changed severely come retirement.  If the change in quality of life doesn’t occur post retirement, there may be a scramble to save and invest late in life, which can be both anxiety-producing as well as require strict budgeting.

I’m not sure I buy, however, that Boomers are so worse off than the older generation due to lifestyle habits.  I’m reminded of a post Sophie @ Retirement wrote about risk-averse senior citizens.  Basically, you can find a survey to prove any theory.  That post laid out the idea that older brains are more tolerant to risk.  “Tolerant” in this context means that seniors don’t recognize risk as quickly as younger people, not that they’re better adept at dealing with it.  So to put these two ideas together - Boomers are more anxiety prone and older seniors are not risk-aware – shows that perhaps Boomers have more anxiety because they have more vivid awareness of their current circumstances.  

That makes more sense to me, at least, than the idea that the Me generation has made people mentally unstable.  Sure, I’ve been critical of the materialism of the Me generation, but I don’t quite think using credit cards melts your mind.  

Sponsored Resources Ads by Google