Study Shows Older Americans Are Coping Best During the Pandemic
f you think older Americans have struggled to cope through the pandemic, think again. According to new research by financial services firm Edward Jones, they have actually been faring far better than their younger counterparts. The Edward Jones and Age Wave Study focused exclusively on how different generations have held up emotionally and financially in the months since the lockdowns began, and some of its findings are at least as startling as how quickly even 70-year-olds came to love Zoom. “COVID-19’s impact forever changed the reality of many Americans, yet we’ve observed a resilience among U.S. retirees in contrast to younger generations,” says Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., the founder and CEO of Age Wave, a leading research think tank on aging, retirement and longevity issues. While acknowledging upfront that the virus itself disproportionately struck aging adults, the five-generational sampling of 9,000 people, age 18 and over, reveals more than a few surprises. Among them: While 37 per