ABSTRACT
The NORC General Social Surveys give a picture of reactions at eight points across the decade. Age is a factor showing a link to financial satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The families in the age 18-to-34 category would normally have small children, with relatively modest financial burdens. A more detailed examination of financial concerns was conducted using the larger 1978 Quality of American Life study. The comparison of the 1972 and 1975 results shows the greatest recession-linked increase of dissatisfaction among the 35-to-44 year-old category, that is, among those with teenage children. The age 65-and-over respondents in these studies showed, by far, the highest levels of financial satisfaction. The chapter presents the combined results for NORC studies 1976, 1977, and 1978, examining the income-financial satisfaction and income-financial trend patterns for the married only. The income differences between upper middles and all others are moderate to large early in careers and continue to be so in the 35-to-44 age category.
