Authors: Cox, D. A., Hammond, K. E., & Gray, K. P.
How Gen Z’s Formative Experiences Shape Its Politics, Priorities, and Future
Executive Summary
Generational cohorts are commonly used labels that serve to capture differences across time. Evolutions in culture, lived experience, and identity centered on specific events or demographic trends (such as the baby boom) collectively influence members of a generation. At their core, these demographic differences are easily quantified. For instance, about half of Generation Z is non-Hispanic white, compared to 71 percent of baby boomers. Religious, educational, and sexual identity all vary considerably between generations. That said, key generational qualities expand beyond demographic comparisons.
In order to explore generational differences while keeping in alignment with best practices in social science research, this report seeks to home in on generational difference by exploring formative teenage experiences. Such experiences are largely held in common among members of the same generational cohort, yet due to the ebb and flow of technological innovation, population trends, social mores, and economic circumstance, they vary meaningfully between the generations.
Gen Z stands apart socially. Rates of teenage loneliness are high, and younger Americans report having spent less time with friends in person growing up than did previous generations. More than six in 10 Gen Z adults said they felt lonely or isolated during at least some of their teenage years, nearly double the rate among baby boomers (36 percent). …
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