An earlier Harris report, several years ago, that the Japanese had much more negative attitudes toward older people than Americans was treated in this country with almost total disbelief. However, our research partners in Japan were not surprised and confirmed that this was consistent with everything they knew and had found there.

The conventional wisdom is that Asians have more respect for older people than Westerners, and that they are less prejudiced against seniors and less likely to discriminate against them. Our data from multiple sources suggest that this is not the case. It is a myth probably based on what used to happen in the past, and the belief that young and middle-aged Asians are happy to take care of older people as they become frail because of the great respect they have for the elderly.

The reality today is very different. In Asia (and we have conducted surveys on this subject in India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan), there are a number of factors which seem to trigger negative attitudes towards the elderly. In the poorer Asian countries old people who do not work productively normally live with their children and/or grandchildren who are expected to take care of them. Caring for the elderly is a financial, emotional and psychological burden. In the United States and in other western countries, most older people have pensions either from the government or their previous employers or both, they often own their own houses and many of them have significant savings. Far from being a financial burden, our research shows that in America more older people give money to their children than vice-versa. Many people expect to inherit from their parents when they die. Furthermore grandparents are often loved by their grandchildren whom they sometimes spoil. In other words, many older people in the United States and the West are social and financial assets whereas in Asia they are often liabilities.

Japan, of course, is also a rich country where older people often have more financial assets than liabilities. However, there is still a widespread tradition of elderly parents living with their middle-aged children and being cared for their daughters or daughters-in-law. The wife of a Japanese executive returning to Japan after living for many years in the United States, told me how much of a burden looking after her mother-in-law would be when she returned.

We have discussed these findings that surprised us at first with colleagues, researchers and gerontologists in China, Japan and in India. They pointed out that in China, relations between the working population and their non-working parents have become a huge issue. In the past when the great majority of Chinese lived in rural areas and had several children in every family, several generations lived together and the young and middle-aged were able to look after the old. Two factors have dramatically changed that situation. One is the “one child policy” which meant that there is only one child (plus his or her spouse) to look after aged parents. The other is the huge migration from the rural areas where the parents still live to the cities where their children and grandchildren live. The Chinese have recently introduced new legislation that requires younger people to provide for their aged parents. This would have not occurred if the Chinese were as diligent for caring for their parents as they used to be.

In Part Three: The implications of age issues on the upcoming election.

Humphrey Taylor

Humphrey Taylor is the Chairman of The Harris Poll, a service of Harris Interactive. Previously he was Chairman and CEO (1992-1997) and President (1981-1992) of Louis Harris and Associates. He has had overall responsibility for more than 8,000 surveys in 80 countries, for governments, corporations, and foundations, on such subjects as housing, insurance, transportation, welfare planning, marketing, communications, banking, industrial relations, education and health care. He has testified to Congressional Committees and Subcommittees on Social Security, health care cost containment, Medicare, aging, policies affecting disabled people, drug exports, the taxation of employee benefits, and privacy. He has made presentations in the White House and on Capitol Hill on these subjects, and on Health Maintenance Organizations, productivity, consumerism, health promotion and disease prevention. He has published many articles and papers on survey research and public policy, and broadcasts frequently on radio and television. Over his working life, Humphrey has authored over 1,000 columns, papers, op-ed page articles, and book chapters. He has written editorial page articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and (London) Times.