As kids and teens, Generation X lived a somewhat feral existence. Growing up with minimal supervision due to societal factors, like the rise in one-parent families or both parents being at work, they became independent at an early age. But now that switch has flipped. Those born between 1965-1980 tend to be more involved, more protective and more communicative with their children than their own parents ever were.

But that’s a huge generalisation of course. Our research shows that different audience segments have differing views about the various aspects of family life. Different strokes for different folks if you like.

Finding a balance

For example, our outgoing and optimistic Adventurous Achievers are the most family-focused, with 43%¹ saying that their families are very close and see each other regularly. Perhaps because they tend to be relatively well-off, this segment also scores the highest on managing to have both family time and time for themselves. And when they get to retirement age it’s very much a family affair too, with 31%² looking forward to spending more hours with their nearest and dearest. Comfortable Traditionalists and Busy Short Termers aren’t too far behind them on this score at 26%³.

Other segments see things differently. The liberal-minded Progressively Engaged really value their hobbies and interests. And once they’ve waved goodbye to the 9 to 5, 26% of them⁴ are intending to really get into the groove by throwing themselves into the things they’re passionate about, rather than upping the ante on family life.

Meanwhile our harried Anxious Planners and here-and-now focused Cynical Fatalists have the highest numbers of respondents saying their families aren’t close at 19%⁵. Reading between the lines it’s possible that low incomes and health worries get in the way of staying in touch for these groups, as well as busy day-to-day lives in the case of the Anxious Planners.

Progressive vs traditional values

The UK today has a lot of non-traditional parent households, from single parents to LGBTQ+ couples to blended families and more. What does Generation X think about this? As you’d expect our Progressively Engaged score highly (36%⁶) on believing a child in a non-traditional household will have the same benefits as one growing up in a traditional one. But one group comes out even higher at 37%⁷- our Cynical Fatalists. Perhaps their low incomes and a sense of having limited opportunities has led to greater empathy on this point: an understanding that families can come in all shapes and sizes and a belief that what truly matters isn’t the structure, but the support within it.

So, where do our Comfortable Traditionalists fit in? Unsurprisingly, they top the charts in believing traditional households are best, with 32%⁸ in agreement. 28%⁹ of them also identify as having more conservative values, just shy of the 30%¹⁰ seen in our Anxious Planners group. These two segments are, metaphorically speaking, the Telegraph/Daily Mail readers to the Progressively Engaged’s Guardian and Independent crowd. If there’s one thing all of this demonstrates, it’s that just because a group of people share an age bracket, it doesn’t mean they’ll share the same values – family or otherwise.

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Footnote references

Just Group Generation X Segmentation Study 2024