Two infants born in the United States – one in 1950, the other one born today.?

Question

Which infant will have a better quality of life during his/her childhood?

Answer 1

Depends where the child was born, the health of the mother and whether she drank or smoked while pregnant, the race of each of the parents, whether the parents were poor, and the access to health care. The health divide was much more pronounced in the 50's -- a black child was more likely to have a higher mortality rate and may have been more likely to be in a rural area with little access to health care. In the south, he/she would have had little access to quality education or college, which lowers life expectancy. Vaccines were not as prolific, and the 50's child might have gotten polio.

Answer 2

This is a joke, right? Standard of living has increased steadily since WWII. Low income families today have a higher standard of living than upper middle class families in the 50's (how many families in 1950 had a single 12" black and white television, forget about cable TV, microwaves, air conditioning, internet, computers, and credit cards), not to mention that segregation was still law in the 50's, women only had the right to vote for 30 years and the glass ceiling was more like an impenetrable titanium reinforced bunker. Polio had not yet been wiped out, either, and the child's life expectancy in 1950 was 66 (it was 75 in 2004)

Answer 3

I suppose it all depends on the family it is born into.
Not all parents of kids born in the 1950's where very conserned about how kids felt or if they were hurting their emotions. It was pretty much,"kids should be seen and not heard."
Most moms did stay home with their kids in the 50's but they were too busy with housework to have much time to play with their kids.
It really does come down to who your parents are and what their values are. It is not all hopeless for kids today.

Answer 4

It would be difficult to say without knowing what you mean by "quality of life." I was born in 1949, and some aspects of my childhood were infinitely better than the sort of thing I've seen of late. Education, for example.

Answer 5

1950
People could ride their bike or walk down the street without being shot by a punk.
We didnt even lock our doors back then
Communties looked out for the kids, most adults kept an eye on the kids, you got out of line and a neighbors mom would straighten it out.
Now, older white men are considered danger, do not ask them for help, no body is allowed to correct unrully kids, not even the parents. I got more for my buck then and the cars and trucks had personality and were not disposable

Answer 6

1950 in my eyes so much horror in the world today, we are better off money wise etc but i feel the world is getting worse by the day!

Answer 7

I don't think there's a definitive answer to this, because there are lots of different good and bad things about each era.

Answer 8

the one in 1950, with all the crap going on today...