# 6096
Generation X – that is, the generation born after the post-war baby boom - comprise about 80 million Americans who are now in their 30s and 40s.
The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research - in conducting their Longitudinal Study of American Youth - has collected data from roughly 3,000 participants aged 36 to 40 on how they perceived and reacted to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
While this study reports that Gen X responded reasonably well to the pandemic, only about 20% appear to have availed themselves of the flu shot.
And despite believing they were `well informed’ on the subject of pandemic flu, overall they scored only moderately well when tested on 5 areas of general flu knowledge.
Gen Xers indicated they trusted their family practitioner, and the NIH the most when it came to flu information, and Youtube videos, drug companies the least.
Here is the press release, I don’t find the study available yet on the Lsay.org website.
Generation X: How young adults deal with influenza
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Only about one in five young adults in their late 30s received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, according to a University of Michigan report that details the behavior and attitudes of Generation X.
But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemic—the first serious infectious disease this group had ever experienced—The Generation X Report explores how Americans ages 36-39 kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.
"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," said Jon D. Miller, author of The Generation X Report. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly, with higher levels of awareness and concern."According to Miller, understanding Gen X reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials deal more effectively with future epidemics.
The results show that a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue. However, they scored only moderately well, overall, on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at the U-M Institute for Social Research. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xers—those born between 1961 and 1981.
Among the other findings:
- Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
- Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media, and about five times from searching the Internet.
- The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.
