Centre for Policy on Ageing



Women of a middle generation and parent care
Author(s)	Maaike G H Dautzenberg, Jos P M Diederiks, Hans Philipsen
Journal title	International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 47, no 4, 1998
Pages	pp 241-262
Keywords	Women as carers ; Parents over 60 as carers ; Middle aged ; Children ; Netherlands.
Annotation	This article addresses women who are caring for both parents and children, the so called sandwich generation or women-in-the-middle. Gerontological studies on this topic reflect controversies on the concept as well as on the size of the phenomenon. The study attempted to demonstrate empirically to what extent middle-aged women respond to the care demands of both the generation ahead as well as the generation behind them. A population-based sample among women aged 40-54 in the Netherlands was used to examine the prevalence of women-in-the-middle, their sociodemographic characteristics and patterns of parent care. The authors conclude with a discussion on the potential for a cross-cultural comparison between the Netherlands and other countries regarding parent care as a normative experience and the chances of middle-aged women getting "caught" between care demands from two generations. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-990325401 A
Classmark	P6:SH: P6:BB: SE: SBC: 76H
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.