Human Growth and Development / Unit 14 HGD 1982 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The Sandwich Generation
The idea
The sandwich generation, Dorothy Miller's term, describes midlife adults with at least one parent aged sixty-five or older who are also raising children or supporting grown ones. In a twenty twenty-one Pew survey, about a quarter of US adults fit the description. Multiple roles can bring role enhancement or role strain: well-being declines when demands compete. Caring for both generations brings more financial, emotional and role strain than caring for parents alone.
In practice
A forty-eight-year-old driving her mother to dialysis in the morning and her son to practice in the evening, with a job in between.
Where people slip
Caregiver burden, the combined psychological, social and financial cost of unpaid family care, is lighter for caregivers who feel prepared and supported. Women provide more unpaid care. Exam items ask for the term: caring for both an aging parent and children is the sandwich generation; the strain of competing roles is role strain.
Your place on the trail
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Builds on
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