Telescope Reviews: ?$4/gal gas (US) and star party attendance 2012?

I think that, when it comes to demographics, the same worries about a 'greying population' can be applied to any interest or activity. A lot of the older population have more time - and, often, more money on their hands and can indulge their interests more. Not all but a lot do.

Younger people have a lot of demands on their time, arguably as much as their parents do. Teenagers are a good example, by and large they have got the demands of school and exams and, when they're done with that there's work or university then work to take up their time. Not only that, there's the other, well-known, diversions for them. I was interested in astronomy (and other things) as a kid but, with school and also an unsupportive mother and stepfather ('unsupportive' is an understatement, they sneered), my interests fell by the wayside until I left both school and home. Supportive parents are the best thing for any hobby if young people are to be involved. I was 22 when I seriously took up astronomy, but I wished I'd kept it up throughout my teens, despite my mum and stepfather.
If you're an enthusiastic teen who is not yet old enough to drive (17 here in the UK) or doesn't own a car, then you have to rely on parents or public transport to get to meetings or star parties. If you have got parents who aren't interested in you and your hobbies and can't be bothered to drive you somewhere, or you have a public transport system that sucks (the public transport system here in the UK is decent except for rural areas where there is nothing. And forget late-night transport outside of the major towns and cities), then you're a bit stuck, which is enough to kill off the interests of all but the most stubborn person. The high gas prices can't be entirely blamed for parental non-interest; my mum was always refusing me lifts as 'It costs too much in petrol' and this was in the 1980s when fuel was relatively cheaper than it is now. We lived away from a bus route, so it was a case of 'Tough, too bad. You can't go'.

I have to confess that I am not a 'children person' (especially young kids) but when kids come along to our society and to events I make sure they get to look through the telescopes and be involved even if, in the inverse of the scenario I outlined above, they've been dragged along by enthusiastic or curious parents. You never know, a seed may have been planted. It might lie dormant for a while but may germinate later like mine did. I don't normally do outreach but, as I am doing a year-long stint as Chairman of our local astronomy society, I feel as if I should be!
I don't see many children at events like the Texas Star Party and the ones I do see, with the odd exception, are usually there as TSP forms part of the family vacation. Although I suppose that is as much to do with the academic year and term times as much as anything (as a non-US resident, I don't know the exact times of school vacations although I believe there's a vacation around June time).

Careers: 9 to 5 working isn't conducive to a hobby, especially one like astronomy, where the nature of the thing means late bedtimes, particularly in summer. Shift-work even less so. Apart from a stint in the armed forces when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I have not actually had any form of career (although I have been more or less continually employed apart from a brief period between 2001-2003), so I was able to indulge my interests. I work to live, not live to work and I believe that, as long as you earn enough to take care of your responsibilities (paying the rent and bills, etc) and have enough to pay for your hobbies then that's pretty good. I know so many career people - my sister, for one - who have no life because they work from 7am-7pm. Ok, it could be argued that you can have a life when you retire but who's to say you'll be fit and healthy in retirement, or that you can afford to indulge yourself? Or that you'll even live to have a decent length of retirement?

Families. My friends who have had families dramatically ceased any form of hobby activity or interests unless it was their kids. I am not saying there's anything wrong in that because, if you choose to have kids, then they have to be your priority (although people need some time to themselves as well). So, those who have children who are not yet grown up are also probably out of the equation until they are at least in their 40s. I never had a family, simply as it is not what I wanted (and still don't want) and would interfere with my life too much but I know I am in a (significant) minority.
So those kids and those younger adults who have young children of their own, who are not yet involved, may well be the amateurs of the future.

Women: For years, the burden of family life fell mostly on the woman and women weren't expected to have hobbies, unless it was boring stuff such as sewing, cooking and home-making (essential, yes, but not the stuff of leisure - at least, not to me!). Luckily times and attitudes have changed and there are a lot more women coming into astronomy. Even 20 years ago, when I got seriously into the hobby, the attitudes of some of the older male members of the community here in the UK was "Women? Appalling, they should know their place, which is in the kitchen". A shocking attitude, but fortunately expressed by a minority and now thankfully almost eradicated.
At TSP, there are a lot of well-known and talented women observers, the likes of Barbara Wilson, Amelia Goldberg and Kathy Machin, to name but three. They're not just there because their husbands are, they are there in their own right as observers. And, sometimes, the women are the ones with the biggest telescopes! That said, there is plenty of room for more.

I didn't mean to go on quite at length and if you got through that screed of verbiage then well done! It's just as I see the demographics situation.