Multi generations in a house was certainly a thing though it varies depending on what decade you're talking about. The houses definitely were smaller as were the yards. Look at the new construction now, there are no modest sized homes being built then drive through an older neighborhood. There is simply no comparison. My aunts and uncles all shared bedrooms.. Rarely did houses have more than one bathroom. Nobody had central air conditioning not homes, not schools. Plenty of teenagers have cars these days though they're still in school. Nobody walks or rides bikes unless they're electric. Most people are overweight and plenty of young folks are diabetic. Those factory jobs that everyone thinks were so great? They were often dangerous before OSHA and unhealthy before the EPA. My older neighbors in Cleveland told me about the soot from the nearby steel mills. BTW those jobs were plentiful until recently where I live. They're miserable places to work still. They'll make you work 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. My sister just got fired from one making $25 an hour, she lost a similar job year ago. Everyone is doing Adderall to cope, management looks the other way.