Baby Boomers

710 Words2 Pages

The first approach to analyzing both interviews was looking at how they processed the tragic life event due to their generation label. Lisa is a middle-aged adult apart of the Baby Boomers and Kelly is a young adult categorized under Generation Y. It is important to look at generational identities in order to understand how they collectively respond and react to events and others. Many attitudes and values that identify under Baby Boomers are optimism, equality, personal growth and team orientation. Similar attitudes characterize the Generation Y such as optimism, diversity, confidence, and civic duty (Adwoa Buahene & Giselle Kovary, 2003). Those these may be altered terms all seem to have an underlying generalization for both generations. …show more content…

At first I considered an older generation to handle a large, heartrending life event with ease because of life experience. However, due to the Generation Y’s quick ability to gain knowledge through technology they have critical skills in then being able to express their thoughts the same way. They are able to feel as if they are being heard therefore they are able to cope with the situation as well as if they were apart of the Baby Boomer generation who has experience in dealing with big life events (Buahene & Kovary, 2003). Kelly brings up how her initial reaction was caused by text messages coming from friends about the shooting. She mentions the constant updates from social media, which comforted her because she was able to understand what was happening. Lisa’s co-workers found comfort in walking the halls having face-to-face interactions with each other. Here she was able to express her concerns to co-workers feeling as though she was heard. In order to successfully handle living through tragedy I think it is important to express feelings and to feel as though one is heard. Although in different ways, both Lisa and Kelly expressed this could be …show more content…

“Cognitive-relational theory defines stress as a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well being” (Ralk Schwarzer, 2000). This theory examines the continuous nature of the interaction between a person and their environment and how stress variables can change the way a person responds and adapts to certain environmental demands. There is an assumption that emotions occur first when encountering stress. This influences their view on the environment, which is continuously changing because of cognitions, other stress, and adaptations “various attributes of a natural setting determine the actual experience of emotions and the resulting action tendencies” Schwarzer, 2000). This theory relates to the experiences of Lisa and Kelly whom both at first had emotional reactions. Fear, shock, and worry were all beginning emotions that lead to their differentiating views of a college setting. This stressful occurrence made them more aware of their surrounding environment and possibly took away their trust in safety in a college

Open Document