Young-Old Elderly and Baby Boomers

Abstract

At the beginning of 2011, the first generation of more than 77 million baby boomers began to turn 65. In this study, researchers explore the situation in which those baby boomers who are currently 55 to 64 years old will replace current senior citizens, 65- to 74-year-olds. This study presents a detailed descriptive analysis of activity generation and the planning and scheduling behavior of these two age groups. Global Positioning System–based data from a prompted recall activity-travel survey (the Urban Travel Route and Activity Choice Survey) are used in this study. This highly disaggregate survey with detailed activity attributes has made it possible to distinguish the preferences and flexibilities of preretirement baby boomers (55 to 64) and senior citizens (65 to 74) with respect to their daily activities. The study focuses on a diverse set of activity categories that include the following: work, school, personal, religious, health care, services, errands, discretionary, and shopping. For these activities, activity durations, times of day, and planning time horizons were studied, compared, and analyzed for both age groups. It was revealed that the main difference between these two age groups was the difference in the participation in mandatory activities. Although the two age groups had very similar behavior in choice of activity duration, their time-of-day choice behavior was very different. In addition, both age groups executed a major part of their activities impulsively. Seniors and baby boomers planned 61.6% and 56.9%, respectively, of their activities on “less than 1 h” and “same-day” planning time horizons.