The ‘sandwich’ generation: adult children of the aging

Dorothy A. Miller, MSSW, is Professor and Director of Practicum, College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington. This article is a revised ver sion of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Gerontological Association, Anaheim, California, March 1980. Adult children of the aging—that lies. For example, a survey of non segment of the population between institutionalized individuals 65 years roughly 45 and 65 years of age—are of age and over, living in three sometimes called the "command genercountries including the United States, ation" because of their prominence in provides empirical data that dispel sev decision-making positions throughout eral pervasive myths.2 The findings re society. They also have been described veal that elderly people in the United as the "sandwich generation" because States are not alienated from their of their peculiar position in today's families and that the truly isolated aging four-generation modified extended person is a rarity. Although aging families—defined as "a coalition of nupeople, like young people, value their clear families in a state of partial deprivacy and want to live alone, they do pendence" in which there is an exnot disconnect themselves from the nu change of services.1 The position of the clear family. In much the same way as children of the aging in relation to their younger people, the elderly living alone parents, children, and grandchildren use the family as the first resource for exposes them to a unique set of unemotional and social support, crisis in shared stresses in which giving of retervention, and economic assistance, sources and service far outweighs reIn addition, the family continues to be ceiving or exchanging them. This imthe place where the aging can be them balance occurs just when the middleselves and find refuge or privacy. Most aged members of the sandwich generaelderly people who are institutionalized tion are themselves confronting major have never married or are widowed and personal developments such as loss of childless. youth and concomitant recognition of Other hypotheses and myths not their own incipient aging as well as the supported by the data in this study are impact engendered by the so-called that most old people live greater dis empty nest. Many of this group have tances from their children; that they arrived at a time of relative equilibrium rarely see their children; that most in both their economic situation and older people rarely see siblings and their marital and personal relationother relations; and that, because of ships. They are ready for relaxation large human service bureaucracies, and self-indulgence, only to find that families are no longer important. In their grown children are not quite indefact, the study found that four out of pendent and their parents have moved five of the elderly respondents had liv from autonomy to a degree of depening children. Although the proportion dence. of older people living in households The purpose of this article is twofold, with their children declined from 36 First, it presents demographic data ilpercent in 1957 to 18 percent in 1975, lustrating the essential role of the adult there was an accompanying rise in the children of the aging as the major reproportion of older persons who lived source and support group of the elderly within ten minutes of their children. In in the United States and suggests the 1975, 52 percent of older people lived stress engendered by this role. Second, within ten minutes of their children, the article describes the limited serand 75 percent lived within half an vices available to the children of the hour. Fifty-three percent reported that aging, with the aim of sensitizing helpthey had seen their children that day or ing professionals to the undefined the day before, and approximately 75 problems and the unmet needs of this percent had seen them within the week, population. Any effective practice with Only one in ten had not seen their chil-" multigenerational families must condren in over a month. Siblings were sider the dynamic interplay across genfound to be especially important for erations. widowed people and for those who never married. These two groups also reported frequent visits with other rel atives such as cousins. Thus, the domi Recent studies clearly establish the nant family form for older people seems FAMILY PATTERNS