Coping with Influenza: How young Americans reacted to an influenza epidemic
The LSAY has released its second quarterly report on the young adults who have participated in the study since 1987 and who continue to complete an annual survey. This report focuses on how young adults in the LSAY learned about and made sense of the 2009 swine flu epidemic. The 2009 swine flu epidemic was the first major epidemic experienced by young adults in Generation X and it was most dangerous to children and young adults rather than older Americans, which is often the case with influenza. The Generation X Report 
for Winter, 2012, has been mailed to all active participants and is available online.
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Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemic – the first serious infectious disease this group had ever experienced – The Generation X Report explores how Americans ages 36-39 kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families. The results from the LSAY found that only about one in five young adults in their late 30’s received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic. But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
“These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic,” says Jon D. Miller, author of The Generation X Report. “Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly, with higher levels of awareness and concern.”
According to Miller, understanding Generation X reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials deal more effectively with future epidemics.
The results also show that even though a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were ‘well informed’ or ‘very well informed’ about the issue, overall they scored only moderately well on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Among other findings:
- Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
- Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media, and about five times from searching the internet.
- The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores, and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials, and Wikipedia articles.
“In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crises – some biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined,” says Miller. “They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge.”
The third Generation X Report will be issued in April 2012, on the topic of food and cooking. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, and citizenship and voting.
2011 LSAY cycle of data collection is nearing the end
The 2011 LSAY questionnaires were mailed to participants who have been responding to printed questionnaires and emailed to respondents who normally complete online in November. Due to technical difficulties with our online support services, the launch date was approximately 10 days later in 2011 than in earlier years, but the rate of completion is running slightly ahead of previous years. Participants who have not completed their 2011 questionnaire will be reminded when they receive the printed copy of The Generation X Report in late January. Jon Miller, the Director of the LSAY, reminded participants that the credibility of the study’s results with national policy makers depends in large part on the rate of response.
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Miller notes that “the LSAY has had one of the highest response rate of any national longitudinal study, but that users of the results – journalists, Congressional staff, and public officials – continue to look carefully at the percentage of eligible participants who actually respond.” Miller thinks that the strong LSAY response rate reflects a combination of several years of prior experience with the study and a record of sharing results with the participants. The current series of reports – The Generation X Reports – have been positively received by LSAY participants and appears to have stimulated an increased response rate.
If you are a participant in the LSAY and your address has changed during the last year, you can use the Participants page on this web site to report your change of address. If you have not received an email or a printed version of the 2011 questionnaire, you can send us a message on the Contact Us page, or you can call our toll free number at 1-800-984-5271.