Another Boomer Myth Shot Down: Not as Healthy as Their Parents at the Same Age

We’ve heard ad nauseum how boomers are entering the retirement years healthier, stronger and more active than any generation of elders in history. But that may not be so.

Americans in their early to mid-50s today report poorer health, more pain and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks than their older peers reported at the same age in years past, a recent analysis has shown. The research, published in print and online by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), was supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health.

Read more…

A band of self-styled experts on aging boomers has built a substantial mythology around the so-called boomer generation. Reporters, wanting to get on the aging boomer bandwagon that started rolling forward last year when the first boomers began turning 60, generally lack the knowledge to separate the wheat from the chaff when listening to “the experts.”

The truth is, in my opinion, there are few experts on aging boomers – at best, only degrees of amateurism for the most part.

A good friend, Rick Moody who is chief of academic affairs at AARP denies being an expert on boomers but in truth knows more about people in the years of life that boomers find themselves in than most “experts” I’ve met. Rick sends out each week a collection of clippings on boomers to a small select group that I'm privileged to belong to. I find these clippings quite useful – especially in terms of revealing deep contradictions like the one I brought up in the first two paragraphs.

In thinking about the legions of boomer experts that have come on the scene in the past few years, I’m reminded of the famous answer bank robber Willy Sutton gave a reporter who had asked him why he robbed banks. “Because that’s where the money is,” Sutton gamely replied. In other words, the boomer expert population has exploded because a lot of companies now want a lot of answers about boomers’ lifestyles, values, needs and wants. That means a lot of money for consultants is being put in play.

Week after week, Rick Moody’s clippings reveal the superficial thinking that dominates conversations about boomers and business opportunities. Those responsible for charting a brand or their company’s course through the churning waters of boomer markets need to learn how to make sound judgments about the veracity of what they are being told by marketing consultants.

Beth Soldo, who led the research that found boomers are not as healthy as their parents, is a world-class researcher.  It is important to not only seriously consider how at odds her research is with the myth of boomers superior health, but to wonder how many other properties that have been attributed to boomers are wrongly assigned.

 

Comments

[Joan Hollywood]

I have to wonder at the veracity of results from a self-reported health survey. Given our history of self scrutiny and lofty ideals, I would expect Boomer responses to the survey to be driven by one's perception of well being combined with high expectations for glowing health. I would expect Boomers to be more attuned to every ache and pain in their bodies than previous generations at the same age, and to have perfectionistic goals for their health. As a Boomer in the exact age group of the study, I do not see the results borne out by anyone in my family or friends. Further, I believe quality of health continues to be a factor of income level far more than generational age, with the ability to attain affordable and high quality health care a critical component. Still, appreciate the new information, and am thoroughly enjoying your new book Firms of Endearment. Noticed today that BestBuy is switching from time clocks to open schedules for employees. Hmm!

[Dave Young]

Do you think the possibility exists that we're just bigger whiners than our parents? We're bombarded from every angle with pharmaceutical messages telling us there's a pill for every tic and ache. If nothing else, it's got to contribute to a rise in bona-fide hypochondria.

[David Wolfe]

Joan and Dave

Joan, your statement,"I would expect Boomers to be more attuned to every ache and pain in their bodies than previous generations at the same age, and to have perfectionistic goals for their health," rings true for me. Obviously Dave has similar feelings.

The point of my post was not so much to offer a conclusion from one study that boomers are no healthier so much as to highlight the plethora of contradictions surround boomers.

Truly, I have met very few people that I believe have their arms around the topic of boomers with any security for truth. I regularly read articles making overly generalized claims about boomer behavior that just are not supported by empirical research. The same goes for self-styled boomer gurus presenting their opinions in PowerPoint presentations before unsuspecting audiences. Reminds me of the old saw about a one-eyed man being king in the land of the blind.

In my judgment, if one has not taken time to delve into the annals of adult development, one cannot justifiably position one's self as an expert on aging boomer behavior. All one has is subjectively internalized experiences that have crystallized collectively as a body of opinion.

Thanks for your comments.

[Mary]

Many products and marketers who are chasing this myth of the healthy agile boomers in their 50s will end up crashing and burning...The best thing they can do is pay attention to real fact-based market research

[Kaly]

Hello im 25,he's 57,we have been friends for over 3 years,and now we have become best freind's.He's just a wonderful person,smart,very mature and sensitive.
I met him on the net Agelesscupid.com three years ago. I am now a happy woman who is deeply in love and planning a wedding ceremony before the end of this year by the grace of God.