“The Sandwich Generation” Challenges of Caring for.pptVIP

Summary: Five Survival Tips Draw strength from your faith Set aside time for yourself Seek family support Talk to your employer Get professional assistance Thank you! Dr. Katherine L. Fiori fiori@ Questions? * * Some research shows that the sandwich generation is more of a situation than a quantifiable age group. Members range from their 20s to their 60s, and the challenges they face span income and geographies. * Men are more likely than women to support aging family members financially, and women are more likely to support their parents emotionally and in daily tasks such as household chores, shopping, and basic hygiene * Generativity = a need to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation that typically develops at middle age * Nearly 30 years ago, Elaine Brody reported that “having a dependent elderly parent was becoming a normative experience for many individuals and families and exceeding the capacities of some of them”; in her community study of caregivers, she found that women in their middle years were providing more support to their elderly parents, their own children and had worked more than had their elderly parents when they were in midlife. According to Brody, these women had sacrificed their other activities and enjoyments as a result. The idea that current cohorts of middle-aged adults, especially women, are increasingly finding themselves “in the middle” between two generations with caregiving responsibilities for both, or “sandwiched in” by the demands of competing family and works roles, continues to be an important theme in caregiving research The debate has centered around two questions: one is whether this particularly demographic (middle-aged adults “sandwiched” between, or caring for, both adult children and aging parents) is really that prevalent; and the second is whether holding these multiple roles is necessarily stressful (or could it be satisfying?) * Demographic trends indicate that it could very wel