Children in an aging society

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Sociology
• Public Policy

Background:

• The United States is experiencing significant population aging.
• Federal budget trends show a
• graying,
• with declining proportions of domestic spending allocated to children's programs.
• These trends are projected to intensify between 2010 and 2030.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential impacts of US population aging on children's well-being between 2010 and 2030.
• To differentiate impacts between advantaged and disadvantaged children.
• To examine the role of intergenerational connections and public spending.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of economic and demographic statistics to describe population age structure and public spending.
• Utilization of data from the 1985 General Social Survey and Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households.
• Examination of connections between older adults and children.

Main Results:

• Federal spending has increasingly favored older populations, decreasing support for children's programs.
• Without structural changes, this trend will worsen by 2030.
• Grandparents may offer more resources, but age segregation limits non-kin interactions.

Conclusions:

• Population aging disproportionately affects disadvantaged children.
• These children have grandparents with fewer resources and greater need for public support.
• Increased spending on the elderly necessitates intentional social policy changes to mitigate growing inequality among children.