I agree with your assessment of the typical new young recruit, as being idealistic, co-dependent, father issues, looking for a "family' etc., but I think at least 2 things are different now:

1-rawat is specifically NOT offering up those things such as community, spiritual family, spiritual brothers and sisters, world peace etc.....he played that one for all it was worth in the 70's, and went it ran out of gas, he "changed gears" for a "new phase"....so now you get a nouveau riche fat alcoholic womanizer selling enlightenment by watching BORING videos and doing 4 refried yoga techniques, and setting up chairs at an event whenever that might be...(of course, donations are always preferred..)

2-the culture is smarter and hipper in this regard, as a result of the inundation of psychology based, new age healing trips.....a lot of us were lost in different ways back then in the 70's, and rawat, dlm etc were regarded as an answer...not so anymore, and many people have realized more about their issues and problems and also realize that the LAST place you should go if you have big issues in life, is to a guru type figure....I think the big difference between now and then is that now most people realize that going to someone like rawat is NOT the answer, but a continuation of the problem, where as then a lot of people looked at someone like rawat as possibly having an answer....