US S&T had a readers poll with similar results a number of years ago, that also sent out shockwaves and rang alarm bells. I remember being shocked that middle aged males made up like 80/90 + % of AA's.
I have mentioned this before here a couple of times, they blamed game consoles and computers for these results.
I wonder tho - this age group grew up when the streetlights used to go off at varying times of the night, usually around midnight, before litigation was a national past time and a path to monetary success.
I wonder how much of an influence the nightly appearence of dark skies this had on forming young minds back then?
Also I agree, astronomy was the last thing on my mind say in my 20's, which I dont remember too much of anyway
was just a blur.
I would agree that many newcomers come into the fold as they age a bit and settle down, as well as people that were interested when young returning after the procreation, need for speed, and mind bending pursuits subsides? (when their bodies cant handle excessive substance abuse anymore) .
Plus I personally think that astronomy is a very tough and antisocial hobby, its hard to convince people to leave the warm pub/tv/game to stand in the cold and squint down a drainpipe at a fuzzy/dot that takes years of practice to master fully.
And its only so often you can show them the moon and bright planets - what is needed is a new spectacle - a massive great comet usually can do the trick?