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Considerable recent work suggests that Millennials’ behaviors may be converging with those of Generation X as they enter later life stages, but few have investigated whether attitudes, which are often strong predictors of behavior, are undergoing the same convergence. In this study, we analyze the existing generational gap in four transportation-related attitudes (currently pro-urban, long-term pro-urban, pro-car ownership, and pro-environment), and examine the differential effects of other characteristics, including life-stage variables, on these attitudinal gaps. We apply the threefold Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method to a statewide (weighted) sample of 1029 Millennials and 946 Generation Xers from California to unravel these effects. The method distinguishes among: (1) effects due to the cohorts having different characteristics (endowments); (2) effects due to those characteristics having different influences on attitudes (coefficients); and (3) the interaction of those two effects. We observe that Millennials’ attitudes: (1) differ from those of Generation X only by small, albeit statistically significant, amounts on average; and (2) are closer to those of Generation X as they gain on a host of life-stage variables such as marital status, income, and education. For example, if Millennials were married, employed, and earning higher incomes at the same rates as Generation X (but retaining their own model coefficients), the generational gap in the currently pro-urban attitude would be reduced by 24%. This study brings an econometric approach to the study of generational divides in transportation-related attitudes, with findings suggesting that Millennials might be leaving part of their uniqueness behind as they enter later life stages.

The current study tests the application of Greenfield’s theory of social change and human development to an Arab Bedouin community transitioning from a nomadic to a sedentary way of life. We predicted that sociodemographic change across three generations away from a rural subsistence way of life (a Gemeinschaft ecology) toward an urban, educated, and technological way of life in a commercial economy (a Gesellschaft ecology) would correspond to generational differences in individualistic values related to gender, focusing on equality and chosen roles. We also examined the hypothesis that the pattern of intergenerational differences would suggest a more rapid pace of value change for women than for men. We presented 20 adolescent girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers, and 20 adolescent boys, their fathers, and their grandfathers with a series of vignettes to measure their values. Results showed increasing Gesellschaft-adapted values across generations of both women and men; however, the pattern of generational differences suggested that the most dramatic change for women was in the parent generation, whereas the most dramatic change for men was in the adolescent generation. This pattern suggested a more rapid pace of value change for women than for men. Mediation analyses showed that education, TV watching, and Internet use explained differences in values across the generations. Qualitative examples illustrate how beliefs about ideal gender behaviors and male–female relations shift across generations in correspondence with sociodemographic changes.

BackgroundThe success of initiatives intended to increase the value of health care depends, in part, on the degree to which cost-conscious care is endorsed by current and future physicians. This study aimed to first analyze attitudes of U.S. physicians by age and then compare the attitudes of physicians and medical students.MethodsA paper survey was mailed in mid-2012 to 3897 practicing physicians randomly selected from the American Medical Association Masterfile. An electronic survey was sent in early 2015 to all 5,992 students at 10 U.S. medical schools. Survey items measured attitudes toward cost-conscious care and perceived responsibility for reducing healthcare costs. Physician responses were first compared across age groups (30-40 years, 41-50 years, 51-60 years, and > 60 years) and then compared to student responses using Chi square tests and logistic regression analyses (controlling for sex).ResultsA total of 2,556 physicians (65%) and 3395 students (57%) responded. Physician attitudes generally did not differ by age, but differed significantly from those of students. Specifically, students were more likely than physicians to agree that cost to society should be important in treatment decisions (p

This personal account is the author's attempt to come to terms with the traumatic effects of growing up among the generation of German children born after World War II. Drawing on Abraham & Torok's (1994) theory of transgenerational haunting, Schwab argues that her generation suffers from a trauma handed down from its parents. Upon returning to her home town in Germany, Schwab is shocked to discover that it once contained a thriving Jewish community. Like the older generation, Schwab realizes that even she had internalized the denial & silence that pervaded Germany after the war. With implications that go far beyond Germany, Schwab contends that children of perpetrators most break their traumatic silence in order to exorcise the ghosts of the past, not only for their personal wellbeing but to avoid the repetition of traumatic history. D. Sabet

While first-wave Vietnamese immigrants adapted well to life in the United States, subsequent immigrants have had greater adjustment difficulties, including more evidence of psychological distress. This study aimed to analyze psychosocial adaptation differences among three generations of recent Vietnamese immigrants, as well as to examine predictors of mental distress in the sample as a whole. A community sample of 184 recent Vietnamese immigrants, categorized as either elderly, middle-aged, or young adults, was assessed for levels of psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as family conflict, dissatisfaction with life in the U.S., acculturation and biculturalism, social support, coping, and premigratory stressors. Young Vietnamese adults were most acculturated, most bicultural, and reported themselves as healthiest and least depressed. They were most often working, least often on welfare, and had the highest family income. However, they also reported most dissatisfaction with their current lives in the U.S. and most family conflict. Regression analysis explaining approximately one-quarter of the variance in mental distress implicated current dissatisfaction with and lack of adjustment of life in the United States, as well as greater acculturation and increased family conflict. Although young adults scored significantly higher than other generations on most of the risk factors for psychological distress, they appeared to be buffered against poorer mental health outcomes by factors of generation and perceived positive overall well-being. In terms of testing a predictive model of psychological distress, this study found current adjustment factors significantly more important in determining mental health outcomes than premigratory stressors such as war-related traumas.