Female 'Sandwich Generation' Burdened With Care

One third of women aged 50-69 in Ireland are in the 'sandwich generation', providing care to both elderly parents and dependent children, according to a new report released by Trinity College Dublin.

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) found that the 'sandwich generation' are providing a range of financial and non-financial support to elderly parents, dependent and non-dependent children and grandchildren. 58% of sandwich generation women give help to their parents and 83% give help to their children. One third look after grandchildren.

The report says the reasons for this are a result of the population structure in Ireland having changed, with people living longer and delayed fertility leading to more women remaining in the work-force.

Half of all sandwich generation women provide substantial time support to their parents.

One-third provide support towards basic and personal care such as dressing, eating and bathing (activities of daily living) for an average of 21 hours per week.

One-third of the sandwich generation women provide practical household help, including shopping and household chores, to their non-resident adult children, for an average of 12 hours per month.

One-third of sandwich generation women look after their grandchildren for an average of 34 hours per month.

9% of sandwich generation women provide financial support to their parents, with the average amount being €2,000 in the last two years. Two-thirds provide financial support to their children, at an average of €3,000 in the last two years.

79% who were financially supporting their parents were also financially supporting their children.

71% also gave other non-financial care to their parents, one-third to their children and one-quarter looked after grandchildren.

Lead author of the report Dr Christine McGarrigle, Epidemiology Research Fellow with TILDA, said: "The impact of financial giving on mental health could be the result of a number of different factors. We found that women who gave financial help to their parents were twice as likely to also provide personal care, like dressing, bathing and feeding their parents. Thus the depression experienced by these women may reflect both the financial strain and the stress of informal caring for parents. Alternatively depression could be associated with the reduction in savings as a result of the need to provide financial support to parents, and subsequent worry among the sandwich generation women about their ability to provide for themselves and both their parents and children in the future."

Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin and Principal Investigator to TILDA concluded: "A key challenge facing public health in Ireland will be the burgeoning ageing population and the increasing demands on the middle generation for both financial and informal care which may lead to an increasing negative impact on health. The provision of advice and support for sandwich generation women on how to plan, financially, and otherwise, for dual caring in the future may offset some of these negative effects on health."

(IT/CD)