Editing Generation X (section)

====As children and adolescents====
=====Rising divorce rates and women workforce participation=====
Strauss and Howe, who wrote several books on generations, including one specifically on Generation X titled ''13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?'' (1993), reported that Gen Xers were children at a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults.<ref name="13th Gen">{{cite book|last1=Howe|first1=Neil|title=13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?|date=1993|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0-679-74365-1|url=https://archive.org/details/13thgenabortretr00howe}}</ref> Xers were children during a time of increasing [[divorce]] rates, with divorce rates doubling in the mid-1960s, before peaking in 1980.<ref name="Adweek"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Dulaney|first1=Josh|title=A Generation Stuck in the Middle Turns 50|url=http://projects.presstelegram.com/gen-x-turns-50/|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=PT Projects|date=27 December 2015|archive-date=18 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518072231/http://projects.presstelegram.com/gen-x-turns-50/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Dawson|first1=Alene|title=Gen X women, young for their age|url=https://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ig-beauty-genx-20110925-story.html|access-date=19 June 2016|newspaper=LA Times|date=25 September 2011|archive-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813064546/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/25/image/la-ig-beauty-genx-20110925|url-status=live}}</ref> Strauss and Howe described a cultural shift where the long-held societal value of staying together for the sake of the children was replaced with a societal value of parental and individual [[self-actualization]]. Strauss wrote that society "moved from what Leslie Fiedler called a 1950s-era 'cult of the child' to what Landon Jones called a 1970s-era 'cult of the adult'".<ref name="13th Gen"/><ref name="Strauss">{{cite news|last1=Strauss|first1=William|title=What Future Awaits Today's Youth in the New Millennium?|url=https://www.angelo.edu/events/university_symposium/97_Strauss.php|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=Angelo State University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808195038/https://www.angelo.edu/events/university_symposium/97_Strauss.php|archive-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> ''The Generation Map'', a report from Australia's McCrindle Research Center writes of Gen X children: Boomer parents were the most divorced generation in Australian history".<ref name="GenMap">{{cite news|url=https://2qean3b1jjd1s87812ool5ji-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/McCrindle-Research_ABC-03_The-Generation-Map_Mark-McCrindle.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618103906/https://2qean3b1jjd1s87812ool5ji-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/McCrindle-Research_ABC-03_The-Generation-Map_Mark-McCrindle.pdf |archive-date=18 June 2019 |url-status=live|title=The Generation Map|access-date=2 August 2016|publisher=McCrindle Research}}</ref> According to Christine Henseler in the 2012 book ''Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion'', "We watched the decay and demise (of the family), and grew callous to the loss."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henseler|first=Christine|title=Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-0-415-69944-0|pages=xx}}</ref>

[[File:US Marriages Ending in Divorce 1950-1990.png|thumb|left|upright=1.1|U.S. Marriages Ending in Divorce 1950–1990]]
The Gen X childhood coincided with the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s to 1980s, which Susan Gregory Thomas described in her book ''In Spite of Everything'' as confusing and frightening for children in cases where a parent would bring new sexual partners into their home.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Susan|title=All Apologies: Thank You for the 'Sorry'|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gregory-thomas/all-apologies-thank-you-f_b_931718.html|access-date=19 June 2016|work=The Huffington Post|date=22 October 2011|archive-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415055600/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gregory-thomas/all-apologies-thank-you-f_b_931718.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Thomas also discussed how divorce was different during the Gen X childhood, with the child having a limited or severed relationship with one parent following divorce, often the father, due to differing societal and legal expectations. In the 1970s, only nine U.S. states allowed for joint custody of children, which has since been adopted by all 50 states following a push for joint custody during the mid-1980s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Susan|title=In Spite of Everything|year=2011|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-6882-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/inspiteofeveryth0000thom}}</ref> ''[[Kramer vs. Kramer]]'', a 1979 American legal drama based on [[Avery Corman]]'s best-selling novel, came to epitomize the struggle for child custody and the demise of the traditional nuclear family.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hanson|first=Peter|title=The Cinema of Generation X: A Critical Study of Films and Directors|url=https://archive.org/details/cinemaofgenerati00hans|url-access=registration|publisher=McFarland & Co|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7864-1334-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cinemaofgenerati00hans/page/45 45]}}</ref>

[[File:US Participation Rates for Women Professionals 1966-2013.png|thumb|upright=1.1|U.S. Participation Rates for Women Professionals 1966–2013]]
The rapid influx of Boomer women into the labor force that began in the 1970s was marked by the confidence of many in their ability to successfully pursue a career while meeting the needs of their children. This resulted in an increase in [[latchkey child]]ren, leading to the terminology of the "latchkey generation" for Generation X.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Blakemore|first1=Erin|title=The Latchkey Generation: How Bad Was It?|url=http://daily.jstor.org/latchkey-generation-bad/|access-date=5 April 2016|publisher=JSTOR Daily|date=9 November 2015|archive-date=12 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151112003116/http://daily.jstor.org/latchkey-generation-bad/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="highbeam.com">{{cite web|last1=Clack|first1=Erin|title=Study probes generation gap.(Hot copy: an industry update)|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-116445054.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503103915/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-116445054.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 May 2016|website=HighBeam Research|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/02/141930849/whats-the-defining-moment-of-your-generation|title=What's The Defining Moment of Your Generation?|work=NPR.org|access-date=11 September 2017|language=en|archive-date=10 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910004557/http://www.npr.org/2011/11/02/141930849/whats-the-defining-moment-of-your-generation|url-status=live}}</ref> These children lacked adult supervision in the hours between the end of the school day and when a parent returned home from work in the evening, and for longer periods of time during the summer. Latchkey children became common among all socioeconomic demographics, but this was particularly so among middle- and upper-class children.<ref name="highbeam.com"/> The higher the educational attainment of the parents, the higher the odds the children of this time would be latchkey children, due to increased maternal participation in the workforce at a time before childcare options outside the home were widely available.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Susan|title=All Apologies: Thank You for the 'Sorry'|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gregory-thomas/all-apologies-thank-you-f_b_931718.html|access-date=2 April 2016|work=Huffington Post|date=21 October 2011|archive-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415055600/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gregory-thomas/all-apologies-thank-you-f_b_931718.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Teacher's Guide to Generation X|url=http://www.edutopia.org/generation-x-parents-relationships-guide|website=Edutopia|access-date=2 April 2016|archive-date=23 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323084700/http://www.edutopia.org/generation-x-parents-relationships-guide|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Susan|title=The Divorce Generation|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303544604576430341393583056|access-date=2 April 2016|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=9 July 2011|archive-date=9 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409014656/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303544604576430341393583056|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Toch|first1=Thomas|title=The Making of 'To Save Our Schools, To Save Our Children': A Conversation With Marshall Frady|url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1984/09/19/05550017.h04.html|access-date=17 April 2016|publisher=Education Week|date=19 September 1984|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426034829/http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1984/09/19/05550017.h04.html|url-status=live}}</ref> McCrindle Research Centre described the cohort as "the first to grow up without a large adult presence, with both parents working", stating this led to Gen Xers being more peer-oriented than previous generations.<ref name="GenMap"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Corry|first1=John|title=A Look at Schools in U.S.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/04/arts/a-look-at-schools-in-us.html|access-date=17 April 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 September 1984|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426222125/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/04/arts/a-look-at-schools-in-us.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Conservative and neoliberal turn=====
Some older Gen Xers started high school in the waning years of the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] presidency, but much of the cohort became socially and politically conscious during the [[Reagan Era]]. President [[Ronald Reagan]], voted in office principally by the Boomer generation,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gitlin|first=Martin|title=The Baby Boomer Encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/babyboomerencycl00gitl|url-access=limited|publisher=Greenwood|year=2011|isbn=978-0-313-38218-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/babyboomerencycl00gitl/page/n184 160]}}</ref> embraced [[Laissez-faire|''laissez-faire'' economics]] with vigor. His policies included cuts in the growth of government spending, reduction in taxes for the higher echelon of society, legalization of [[Share repurchase|stock buybacks]], and deregulation of key industries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebalance.com/reaganomics-did-it-work-would-it-today-3305569#citation-2|title=Reaganomics|last=Amadeo|first=Kimberly|date=31 January 2020|website=The Balance|access-date=13 March 2020|archive-date=25 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525164514/https://www.thebalance.com/reaganomics-did-it-work-would-it-today-3305569#citation-2|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[early 1980s recession]] saw unemployment rise to 10.8% in 1982; requiring, more often than not, dual parental incomes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_dual-income-households-1960-2012-2/|title=The Rise in Dual Income Households|date=18 June 2015|website=Pew Research Center|access-date=13 March 2020|archive-date=4 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404030454/https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_dual-income-households-1960-2012-2/|url-status=live}}</ref> One in five American children grew up in poverty during this time. The federal debt almost tripled during Reagan's time in office, from $998&nbsp;billion in 1981 to $2.857&nbsp;trillion in 1989, placing greater burden of repayment on the incoming generation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=di Lorenzo|first=Stefano|title=Reaganomics: The Roots of Neoliberalism|publisher=Independently Published|year=2017|isbn=978-1-9731-6329-9}}</ref>

[[File:UnderstandingAIDS.png|thumb|left|upright=0.9|U.S. Department of Health booklet published in 1988]]
Government expenditure shifted from domestic programs to defense. Remaining funding initiatives, moreover, tended to be diverted away from programs for children and often directed toward the elderly population, with cuts to [[Medicaid]] and programs for children and young families, and protection and expansion of [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] and [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] for the elderly population. These programs for the elderly were not tied to economic need. Congressman [[David Durenberger]] criticized this political situation, stating that while programs for poor children and for young families were cut, the government provided "free health care to elderly millionaires".<ref name="Strauss"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Holtz|first1=Geoffrey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ay28CTKlgsC|title=Welcome to the Jungle: The Why Behind Generation X|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|year=1995|isbn=978-0-312-13210-1|pages=49–50|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=3 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203080702/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ay28CTKlgsC|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Crack epidemic and AIDS=====
Gen Xers came of age or were children during the 1980s [[crack epidemic]], which disproportionately impacted urban areas as well as the African-American community. The U.S. Drug turf battles increased violent crime. [[Crack cocaine|Crack addiction]] impacted communities and families. Between 1984 and 1989, the homicide rate for black males aged 14 to 17 doubled in the U.S., and the homicide rate for black males aged 18 to 24 increased almost as much. The crack epidemic had a destabilizing impact on families, with an increase in the number of children in foster care.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dunlap |first=Eloise |date=2006 |title=The Severely-Distressed African American Family in the Crack Era: Empowerment is not Enough |journal=J Sociol Soc Welf |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=115{{ndash}}139 |pmid=18852841 |pmc=2565489 }}</ref> In 1986, President Reagan signed the [[Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986|Anti-Drug Abuse Act]] to enforce strict [[Mandatory sentencing|mandatory minimum sentencing]] for drug users. He also increased the federal budget for supply-reduction efforts.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fryer|first1=Roland|date=April 2006|title=Measuring Crack Cocaine and Its Impact|url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/fhlm_crack_cocaine_0.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007234650/http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/fhlm_crack_cocaine_0.pdf |archive-date=7 October 2013 |url-status=live|journal=Harvard University Society of Fellows|pages=3, 66|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/yuppies-beware-here-comes-generation-x/article_ce19c561-c82d-51b0-a0f9-0f680bc50da9.html|title=Yuppies, Beware: Here Comes Generation X|date=9 July 1991|newspaper=Tulsa World|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228212911/https://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/yuppies-beware-here-comes-generation-x/article_ce19c561-c82d-51b0-a0f9-0f680bc50da9.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Fear of the impending [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s loomed over the formative years of Generation X. The emergence of AIDS coincided with Gen X's adolescence, with the disease first clinically observed in the U.S. in 1981. By 1985, an estimated one-to-two million Americans were HIV-positive. This particularly hit the [[LGBT]] community.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-disease-that-defined-_b_5881884?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABtjR7Bc84SyiSRKv6VQ3xatq2VPWu1GfUD_ckT_c5g_EtJI3HGX5x9IT68-4FfKqdrDftJ9HAQ9u4UM5XXjNA_HERTn7paNfwbGt1TI9MEkHC3DKQKBpIVnbvJ22FF_ewfIeJGyyBidkzrBXNndRk2Td29GCvpC1GZxqxr524E6|title=The Disease That Defined My Generation|last=Haltikis|first=Perry|date=2 February 2016|website=Huffington Post|access-date=11 March 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801005145/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-disease-that-defined-_b_5881884?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABtjR7Bc84SyiSRKv6VQ3xatq2VPWu1GfUD_ckT_c5g_EtJI3HGX5x9IT68-4FfKqdrDftJ9HAQ9u4UM5XXjNA_HERTn7paNfwbGt1TI9MEkHC3DKQKBpIVnbvJ22FF_ewfIeJGyyBidkzrBXNndRk2Td29GCvpC1GZxqxr524E6|url-status=live}}</ref> As the virus spread, at a time before effective treatments were available, a public panic ensued. [[Sex education]] programs in schools were adapted to address the AIDS epidemic, which taught Gen X students that sex could kill them.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/generation-x/videos/gen-x-reacts-to-aids/|title=Generation X Reacts to AIDS|date=2016|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=National Geographic Channel|archive-date=27 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427015344/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/generation-x/videos/gen-x-reacts-to-aids/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Halkitis|first1=Perry|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-n-halkitis-phd-ms/the-disease-that-defined-_b_5881884.html|title=The Disease That Defined My Generation|date=2 February 2016|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809002203/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-n-halkitis-phd-ms/the-disease-that-defined-_b_5881884.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Rise of home computing=====
[[File:Apple II tranparent 800.png|thumb|upright=1.0|An 8-bit 1977 [[Apple II (1977 computer)|Apple II]]]]
Gen Xers were the first children to have access to [[personal computer]]s in their homes and at schools.<ref name="GenMap" /> In the early 1980s, the growth in the use of personal computers exploded. Manufacturers such as [[Commodore International|Commodore]], [[Atari]], and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] responded to the demand via [[8-bit computing|8-bit]] and [[16-bit computing|16-bit machines]]. This in turn stimulated the software industries with corresponding developments for backup storage, use of the [[floppy disk]], [[zip drive]], and [[CD-ROM]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark Northrup|first=Cynthia|title=The American economy : a historical encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/americaneconomyh12nort|url-access=limited|publisher=ABC Clio|year=2003|isbn=978-1-57607-866-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americaneconomyh12nort/page/n166 144]}}</ref>

At school, several computer projects were supported by the Department of Education under [[United States Secretary of Education]] [[Terrel Bell]]'s "Technology Initiative".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saettler|first=Paul|title=The evolution of American educational technology|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|year=1990|isbn=978-0-87287-613-2|pages=166}}</ref> This was later mirrored in the UK's 1982 Computers for Schools programme<ref>{{Cite book|last=Younie|first=Sarah|title=Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK)|year=2013|isbn=978-0-335-24619-9|pages=20}}</ref> and, in France, under the 1985 scheme ''[[Computing for All|Plan Informatique pour Tous (IPT)]].''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mourot|first=Jean J.|title=La dernière classe 1984-1990|publisher=Le Scorpion Brun|year=2013|isbn=979-10-92559-00-2|pages=71}}</ref>

=====Post–civil rights generation=====
In the U.S., Generation X was the first cohort to grow up post-integration after [[Jim Crow laws|the racist Jim Crow]] laws. They were described in a marketing report by ''Specialty Retail'' as the kids who "lived the [[civil rights movement]]". They were among the first children to be [[Desegregation busing|bused]] to attain [[Racial integration|integration]] in the public school system. In the 1990s, Strauss reported Gen Xers were "by any measure the least racist of today's generations".<ref name="Strauss"/><ref name="Retail">{{cite news|url=http://specialtyretail.com/issue/2003/07/running-a-cart-or-kiosk/generation-x/|title=Generation X|date=Summer 2003|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=Specialty Retail|archive-date=23 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623105506/http://specialtyretail.com/issue/2003/07/running-a-cart-or-kiosk/generation-x/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the U.S., [[Title IX]], which passed in 1972, provided increased athletic opportunities to Gen X girls in the public school setting.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Underwood|first1=Chuck|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ZGuilmLcc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/y6ZGuilmLcc| archive-date=28 October 2021|title=America's Generations With Chuck Underwood - Generation X|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=PBS}}{{cbignore}}</ref> ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]'', based on the novel by [[Alex Haley]] and broadcast as a 12-hour series, was viewed as a turning point in the country's ability to relate to Afro-American history.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Erickson|first=Tamara J|title=What's Next, Gen X?: Keeping Up, Moving Ahead, and Getting the Career You Want|publisher=Harvard Business Review Pres|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4221-2064-4}}</ref>