Older Americans Most Pessimistic About Future for Children

May 5, 2006 - The idea that each generation of children will grow up to be better off than the one that preceded it has always been a part of the American dream. But barely a third of adults expect things to work out that way for today's children, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

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About half of adults (50%) say that today's children will grow up to be worse off than people are now. A third (34%) say they'll be better off and most of the rest say they aren't sure.

The Old Are More Downbeat than the Young

Now as in 2002, older Americans have the least faith in the future of today's children. By a two-to-one margin, people ages 65 and over say today's children will be worse off when they grow up than people are now. By contrast, a slight plurality (45%) of 18-to-29 year olds say kids today will grow up better off, while 40% of people in this age group say they will be worse off. (Looking at even younger age groups, a 2005 Gallup survey of teenagers found even more optimism. By a margin of nearly three-to-one, teenagers are optimistic rather than pessimistic about the world that their own children will one day live in, the Gallup survey found.)3

As for other groupings in the 2006 Pew survey, women are more pessimistic than men about the future of today's young; the low-income are more pessimistic than the well-to-do; Democrats are more pessimistic than Republicans; and those whose families have been in this country two generations or more are more pessimistic than immigrants.