Using data from the General Social Surveys (1972–1996), this study decomposes the trends in financial satisfaction into intercohort and intracohort patterns to assess the intracohort change and cohort replacement effects on financial satisfaction. The results suggest that a positive intracohort component of financial satisfaction trends, indicating more financial satisfaction with time; and a negative intercohort component, indicating that younger cohorts are less satisfied financially. The multivariate analysis further suggests that the change in financial satisfaction trends is mostly due to a strong intercohort replacement effect. That is, the change in financial satisfaction trends can be largely accounted for by the intercohort replacement effect of younger cohorts' being less satisfied financially.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlwinD. F. (1996). Coresidence beliefs in American society—1973 to 1991. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 393–403.
2.
BeckS. H. (1982). Adjustment to and satisfaction with retirement. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 616–624.
3.
BengtsonV. L.CutlerN. E.MangenD., & MarshallV. L. (1985). Generations, cohorts, and relations between age groups. In BinstockR. H. and ShanasE. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (2nd ed., pp. 304–338). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
4.
CutlerN. E. (1992). The emerging dynamics of financial gerontology: Individual aging and population aging in the new century. In CutlerN. E.GreggD. W., & LawtonM. P. (Eds.), Aging, money, and life satisfaction: Aspects of financial gerontology (pp. 1–21). New York: Springer.
5.
CutlerN. E. (1997). The financial gerontology birthdays of 1995–1996: Social security at 60 and the “baby” boom at 50. In ReischM. & GambrillE. (Eds.), Social work in the 21st century (pp. 143–151). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
6.
DavisJ. A., & SmithT. W. (1996a). General social surveys, 1972–1996. [machinereadable data file]. Principal investigator, DavisJ. A.; Director and co-principal investigator, SmithT. W.. NORC (ed.). Chicago: National Opinion Research Center, producer; Storrs, CT: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, distributor.
7.
DavisJ. A., & SmithT. W. (1996b). General social surveys, 1972–1996: Cumulative codebook.Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.
8.
DoyleD., & ForehandM. J. (1984). Life satisfaction and old age: A reexamination. Research on Aging, 6, 432–448.
9.
EasterlinR. A. (1996). Economic and social implications of demographic pattern. In BinstockR. H. & GeorgeL. K. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (4th ed., pp. 73–93). New York: Academic Press.
10.
FeistG. J.BodnerT. E.JacobsJ. F.MilesM., & TanV. (1995). Integrating top-down and bottom-up structural models of subjective well-being: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 138–150.
11.
FirebaughG. (1989). Methods for estimating cohort replacement effects. In CloggC. C. (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 243–262). Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
12.
GeorgeL. K. (1979). The happiness syndrome: Methodological and substantive issues in the study of social-psychological well-being in adulthood. Gerontologist, 19, 210–216.
13.
GeorgeL. K. (1992). Economic status and subjective well-being: A review of literature and an agenda for future research. In CutlerN. E.GreggD. W., & LawtonM. P. (Eds.), Aging, money, and life satisfaction: Aspects of financial gerontology (pp. 69–99). New York: Springer.
14.
HeadeyB.VeenhovenR., & WearingA. (1991). Top-down versus bottom-up theories of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 24, 81–100.
15.
HennonC. B., & BurtonJ. R. (1986). Financial satisfaction as a developmental task among the elderly. American Behavioral Scientist, 29, 439–452.
16.
LiangJ., & FairchildT. J. (1979). Relative deprivation and perception of financial adequacy among the aged. Journal of Gerontology, 34, 746–759.
17.
LiangJ.KahanaE., & DohertyE. (1980). Financial well-being among the aged: A further elaboration. Journal of Gerontology, 35, 409–420.
18.
SchulzJ. H. (1995). The economics of aging (6th ed.). New York: Auburn House.
19.
WilsonT. C. (1994). Trends in tolerance toward rightist and leftist groups, 1976–1988. Public Opinion Quarterly, 58, 539–556.
