Rehoboam hears two sets of advice. One good, the other bad (see 1 Kings 12).
The good advice is summed up in verse 7: "if you will be their servant, they will always be your servants". Note the two aspects. First is servant leadership, a common theme through the whole Bible. The second is the mutuality that flows from this: by serving the people the people will serve him. Its brilliant, and it embodies something of the community within God Himself.
Unfortunately he listens to the bad: "use the power of your position to lord it over the people. Make them knuckle down. Anything else could be interpreted as weakness, and you don't want that".
Surprise surprise things go very wrong from that day on.
The elders had experience and wisdom, the young saw their opportunity to grasp power. It would be wrong to make a direct correlation with age from this, but in this case the young were off beam. They hadn't understood God, and therefore hadn't understood Godly leadership.
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