Life is Different for Gen Y’s!!
Here at FutureDecisions we often speak about how different the fears and concerns of Gen Y’s are from Boomers or X’ers. While Boomers will complain about being screened at the airport a Gen Y will tell you it makes he/she feel safer.
A recent study that was done bears this out in what we think is startling detail. Specifically this study produced the following results:
TOP FEARS BY AGE
Ages 7-10
1. Being kidnapped
2. Myself dying
3. AIDS
4. Not being able to breathe
5. Being threatened with a gun
Ages 11-14
1. AIDS
2. Not being able to breathe
3. Being kidnapped
4. Being raped
5. Being threatened with a gun
Ages 15-18
1. AIDS
2. Being raped
3. Not being able to breathe
4. Being threatened with a gun
5. Myself dying
Source: Joy Burnham; article in Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, July 2005
This study was conducted by surveying 1000 children who were in second to twelth grade in 2005, which means that all the participant were Gen Y’s (the cutoff date for Gen Y is commonly accepted as 1999).
While we here at FutureDecisions do not remember our fears when we were young (except of course the monster under my bed every night), we know we were not fearful of catching AIDs and cannot remember fearing someone with a gun was going to come after us. It should be noted that some fears could be traced to where the child lived, an urban or rural setting for instance.
If you are a Boomer and you remember your fears when you were young please share them with us, FutureDecisions is always interested in what our readers think and knowing more about their life experiences.
