Generational Differences In Perceptions Research Articles

Just Another Storm: Conceptualizing Older Adults’ Perceptions of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Older adults of color who experience health disparities are especially vulnerable to health and economic adversity related to COVID-19. This study focuses on nine zip codes wherein 70.2% of residents are of African-American descent and an estimated 31.5% of residents live in poverty. To understand the lived experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, perceived challenges of COVID-19, and the dissemination of information related to COVID-19, we collected interview and focus group data in Spring 2020 from fifteen community members, leaders, or advocates. Analyses reveal that older individuals approach the COVID-19 pandemic with familiar disaster mitigation strategies. Other persons perceive the pandemic as another community challenge that African-Americans must confront. Older adults report generational differences in perceptions of the risk of COVID-19 and compliance with health guidelines. Overall, analyses reveal a deeply cultural context for intergenerational responses associated with COVID-19 and a sense of agency among older community leaders as health advocates.

Generational Differences in Perceptions of Food Health/Risk and Attitudes toward Organic Food and Game Meat: The Case of the COVID-19 Crisis in China.

In December 2019, a novel laboratory-confirmed coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection, which has caused clusters of severe illnesses, was first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, China. This foodborne illness, which reportedly most likely originated in a seafood market where wild animals are sold illegally, has transmitted among humans through close contact, across the world. The aim of this study is to explore health/risk perceptions of and attitudes toward healthy/risky food in the immediate context of food crisis. More specifically, by using the data collected from 1008 respondents in January 2020, the time when China was hit hard by the “Corona Virus Disease 2019” (COVID-19), this study investigates the overall and different generational respondents’ health/risk perceptions of and attitudes toward organic food and game meat. The results reveal that, firstly, based on their food health and risk perceptions of healthy and risky food, the respondents’ general attitudes are positive toward organic food but relatively negative toward game meat. Secondly, older generations have a more positive attitude and are more committed to organic food. Younger generations’ attitude toward game meat is more negative whereas older generations attach more importance to it because of its nutritional and medicinal values. In addition, this research also indicates that the COVID-19 crisis influences the respondents’ perceptions of and attitudes toward organic food and game meat consumption. However, the likelihood of its impact on older generations’ future change in diets is smaller, which implies that older generations’ food beliefs are more stable.

Generational differences in perceptions of financial planners

This study investigates the differences in adoption of and perceptions about financial planners among different age groups. Data from a survey of more than 300 people across generations were used to determine if decisions of hiring financial planners, or the types of services requested from financial planners, differed across different age cohorts. Although there are some similarities across generations about expectations of expertise, unselfishness, and trustworthiness of financial planners, there are differences in how financial planners are sought out, and the areas of advice desired by different generations. Millennials and Generation X have a higher preference for independent financial planners over affiliated planners, require more frequent communication with their planners, consider advice for risk management as important as retirement planning, and wish to remain more involved with their planners than the older cohorts.

Speaking the same language: Cross-sectional assessment of perceived contributors to professionalism across generations.

Professionalism is integral to medical training and practice. Recent studies suggest generational differences in perceptions of professionalism, which have not been adequately explored in academic neurology. A cross-sectional study was performed to describe perceptions of professionalism among representative physicians across the academic training spectrum of neurology. A self-report questionnaire adapted from a published instrument was distributed to students, residents, fellows, and faculty in neurology at a single institution. Responders rated 4 domains of professionalism: Personal Characteristics, Interactions with Patients, Social Responsibility, and Interactions with the Health Care Team (5-point Likert scale, not at all important to very important), and selected the "top 2" characteristics critical to professional behavior in each domain. A total of 296 of 312 (95%) responded, including 228 students, 24 residents, 19 fellows, and 25 faculty. Respondents ranked the following components to be important/very important contributors to the expression of professional behavior: Personal Characteristics (98%, mean rating 4.6 ± 0.3), Interactions with Patients (97%, 4.6 ± 0.4), and Interactions with the Health Care Team (96%, 4.6 ± 0.5). Although mean ratings were high for Social Responsibility (4.3 ± 0.6), only 82% indicated that this was important/very important in the expression of professionalism, with a gradual decline from students (4.4 ± 0.6) to residents (3.99 ± 0.8, p = 0.02). The "top 2" contributors to each domain were similar across responders. Professionalism was perceived as critically important across the academic training spectrum in neurology, and the view regarding the top contributors to the expression of professionalism remained consistent among the respondents.

“They Always Ask What I'm Doing and Who I'm Talking to”: Parental Mediation of Adolescent Interactive Technology Use

Burgeoning technology provides instant access to information and communication. Responsible adults are concerned about the material accessed by adolescent technology users. From an ecological system's lens, using a mixed-methods design, the current study identified adolescent and parent perceptions of parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use (i.e., cell phones, Internet). Eighty adolescents (16–18 years of age) and their parents (n = 113) participated in the study that identified generational differences in perceptions of parental mediation, techniques for mediating interactive technology (i.e., monitoring data and usage, active mediation, rules, restriction), and adolescent perceptions of the process of parental mediation. We used the results to propose principles for parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use and provide directions for future research.

Generational Differences in Perception of Affective Climate Antecedents

Generational Differences in Perception of Affective Climate Antecedents

Intergenerational Family Communication: Generational Differences in Rural Families

The aging of our society creates increased opportunity for intergenerational communication between parents and adult children. While many researchers have studied the overall relationships within intergenerational families, few have examined communication within such families. This study explores generational differences in perceptions of communication problems, family communication resources and communication satisfaction in a specific intergenerational family system -the intergenerational farm family. Using repeated measures MANOVA, generational communication differences were examined with a sample of 284 adult family members. The younger generation saw significantly more communication problems in the intergenarational family, viewed fewer family communication resources and had lower family communication satisfaction than the older generation. The discussion highlighted four factors that may account for these generational communication differences.

Developmental Stage and Perceptions of Intergenerational Continuity

Previous research has found generational differences in perceptions of continuity. Bengtson and Kuypers offer the notion of developmental stake to explain why youths exaggerate differences between themselves and their parents and parents minimize intergenerational differences. The identity and intimacy concerns of a young adult child color perceptions of intergenerational continuity differently from the way the generative concerns of midlife parents do. Using a probability sample of college students and both their parents (282 families), we surveyed each generation's actual attitudes and their perceptions of the other generation's attitudes. We also assessed the psychological development of youth (identity and intimacy) and of midlife parents (generativity). Although our results confirm that youths perceive less intergenerational continuity in attitudes than their parents, our results call into question the connection between psychosocial developmental status of either generation and their perceptions of continuity. We offer alternative interpretations of generational differences in perception and make suggestions for broadening the study of developmental stake and intergenerational continuity.