More on the Myth of Boomers' Superior Health

A little while back I posted a piece about a new study purporting the seemingly unlikely possibility that aging boomers are not as healthy as their parents. If this is true, then the long-running claim about boomers outliving their parents because of generally better health turns out to be a myth.

The Washington Post carried a lengthier story on the research this past week: "Baby Boomers Appear to Be Less Healthy Than Parents."

The article answered a pivotal question raised by readers of my last post on the topic were not addressed in the article on which that post was based. That question was, “Do boomers simply have higher expectations of better health than their parents?”

One reader commented, “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 perfectionist goals for their health.”

While that reader’s observations that boomer’s may be “more attuned to every ache and pain in their bodies,” the Post article carried specific, objectively verifiable information about the state of boomers’ health as they pass into the last quarter of life.

For instance, among 51-56-year-olds9% of women surveyed 12 years ago reported difficulty climbing a flight of stairs. Today, 14% of women in the same age group reported difficulty. Among men, the figures were 5% and 7%, respectively.

Twelve years ago, 15% of women in that age group reported difficulty getting up from a chair. Today, that figure is an astonishingly 33%. For men, the figures are 11% and 22%, respectively.

Boomers’ parents were generally more active and less fat, two lifestyle differences that go a long way in explaining why boomers’ are generally not as healthy as their parents were at the same age. Currently, 22.5% of the U.S. population is considered to be clinically obese, as compared to only 14.5% in 1980. That’s a 50% increase in obesity.

So what is the relevance of boomers' health to a blog devoted to marketing?

The myth of boomers’ health is just one of numerous myths promoted by many who are looked upon as “boomer experts.” Take-away lesson: Beware of self-styled boomer experts bearing a portfolio of impressively sounding statistics who make one claim after another about the worldviews, values, aspirations and behavior of boomers.

Being a doubting Thomas is fully warranted when listening to or reading the words of those who make broad, sweeping statements about boomers, not the least of which is the allegation that boomers have similar outlooks on life because they experience much the same things growing up. That is a gross overstatement inasmuch as more than a third of boomers were still under the age of 12 as the 1970s got under way following the tumultuous 1960s which allegedly did so much to shape the boomer mind.

Another myth bashing truth about boomers is that over 25% of those counted in today’s “aging boomer” population are immigrants. They did not experience the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy as a natural American citizen. They did not participate in protests against the Vietnam War on U.S. college campuses and elsewhere including the streets of Washington, D.C. Woodstock meant little or nothing to them.

So, greet each generalization about aging boomers with an inquiring mind if not outright skepticism.  Ameriprise recently turned off a lot of boomers in a major marketing campaign because it thoughtlessly bought into the widely promoted idea among boomer “experts” that one way to secure aging boomers’ good graces is to recapitulate the past through nostalgia reverie.

Many in the target audience felt they were being pandered to. Apparently no one participating in decisions to approve multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns was a doubting Thomas asking for proof. Emulating that faithless apostle can be the difference between a costly campaign blowout or clicking just right that demographic that is somewhat imperfectly known as “boomers.”

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