The provision of support towards multiple generations. How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family?
The provision of support towards multiple generations. How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family?
There is limited evidence, in particular for the UK, on the recent trends and characteristics of the so-called “Sandwich generation”. This refers to those individuals in their mid-life who are facing the responsibilities of caring for multiple generations, usually towards young/adult children and elderly parents. With the large generation of the baby boomers entering mid and late life and an increasing number of families sharing longer years of their life among 3-4 generations, there is an increasing concern regarding the pressure that individuals could face when they are involved in multiple roles such as simultaneous caring roles as well as paid employment.
In this paper, we use recent data from the 1958 National Child Development Survey to examine how mid-life men and women distribute their time dedicated to provide help to their elderly parents and to their own adult children (in terms of providing grandchild care). Moreover, we investigate the socio-demographic characteristics that distinguish individuals supporting multiple generations from those who provide help only towards one generation, or individuals who do not provide any support towards family members.
Initial results from the research show that around one third of mid-life individuals are ‘at risk’ of providing care to multiple generations, meaning that they have at least one parent or parent-in-law alive and at least one grandchild alive (regardless of whether their adult child who is the parent of their grandchild is alive or not), and therefore may become ‘sandwiched’ between the older generation and the younger generation in terms of providing support. Among these individuals, half provide care to both generations simultaneously. With a broader definition of support provided towards parents/ parents-in-law, we found that being sandwiched between two generations in terms of having support responsibilities is more common than what has been found in previous studies.
Vlachantoni, Athina
06a52fbb-f2a0-4c81-9fbc-d6efc736c6cb
Evandrou, Maria
cd2210ea-9625-44d7-b0f4-fc0721a25d28
Falkingham, Jane
8df36615-1547-4a6d-ad55-aa9496e85519
Gomez Leon, Madelin
44f79aad-ff8a-4c16-ae07-23e6fbb7ee9b
Vlachantoni, Athina
06a52fbb-f2a0-4c81-9fbc-d6efc736c6cb
Evandrou, Maria
cd2210ea-9625-44d7-b0f4-fc0721a25d28
Falkingham, Jane
8df36615-1547-4a6d-ad55-aa9496e85519
Gomez Leon, Madelin
44f79aad-ff8a-4c16-ae07-23e6fbb7ee9b
Vlachantoni, Athina, Evandrou, Maria, Falkingham, Jane and Gomez Leon, Madelin
(2016)
The provision of support towards multiple generations. How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family?
European Population Conference 2016, Mainz, Germany.
30 Aug - 02 Sep 2016.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
There is limited evidence, in particular for the UK, on the recent trends and characteristics of the so-called “Sandwich generation”. This refers to those individuals in their mid-life who are facing the responsibilities of caring for multiple generations, usually towards young/adult children and elderly parents. With the large generation of the baby boomers entering mid and late life and an increasing number of families sharing longer years of their life among 3-4 generations, there is an increasing concern regarding the pressure that individuals could face when they are involved in multiple roles such as simultaneous caring roles as well as paid employment.
In this paper, we use recent data from the 1958 National Child Development Survey to examine how mid-life men and women distribute their time dedicated to provide help to their elderly parents and to their own adult children (in terms of providing grandchild care). Moreover, we investigate the socio-demographic characteristics that distinguish individuals supporting multiple generations from those who provide help only towards one generation, or individuals who do not provide any support towards family members.
Initial results from the research show that around one third of mid-life individuals are ‘at risk’ of providing care to multiple generations, meaning that they have at least one parent or parent-in-law alive and at least one grandchild alive (regardless of whether their adult child who is the parent of their grandchild is alive or not), and therefore may become ‘sandwiched’ between the older generation and the younger generation in terms of providing support. Among these individuals, half provide care to both generations simultaneously. With a broader definition of support provided towards parents/ parents-in-law, we found that being sandwiched between two generations in terms of having support responsibilities is more common than what has been found in previous studies.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 September 2016
Venue - Dates:
European Population Conference 2016, Mainz, Germany, 2016-08-30 - 2016-09-02
Organisations:
Gerontology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 400362
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/400362
PURE UUID: fd1ef49a-b6af-4fa2-b916-61cc4f55a83f
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 15 Sep 2016 13:16
Last modified: 12 Dec 2021 03:40
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Madelin Gomez Leon
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
