The Sandwich Generation - a Group of People Stuck in between Two Generations - Research Paper Example

Sandwich Generation Introduction The sandwich generation refers to the ‘group of people who are supposed to take care of their aging parents as well as their young children’ (Zal, pp. 1-3, 2001). It is a conflicting phase of life that where couples in a marriage or single parents are expected to divide their time, finances and energies to choose their priorities of whether to provide more time and resources for their aging parents or to their young children (Zal, 2001). This research paper aims to state the social, psychological and economic problems that the sandwich generation usually faces during this phase of life, and how their actions can affect the rest of the two generations. In order to state the best and the most accurate conclusion, a few examples of actual sandwich generation couples are included as well. The Sandwich Generation Sandwich Generation (Zal, 2001) is the generation stuck between two generations who are supposed to take care and give support to the younger generation (their children) and the older generation (their parents) at the same time. It is likely to suffer from a number of various psychological, social and economic problems are they do their job of prioritizing one of the generations over the other on different instances. The American Census of 2002 calculated that around 80-90 percent households in America provided assistance to aging parents, young children, disabled adult children and other relatives. The sandwich generations at most of the instances provided spiritual, emotional, physical, legal and spiritual support to the dependent generations. The role of the sandwich generations in these families is very demanding, stressful and mentally straining, as they are most likely to suffer from financial and emotional insecurities (Roots, 1998). According to Carol Abaya (Funnel et al, 2008), there are three different kinds of sandwich generations in various families in general. First kind of the sandwich generation, known as the Traditional Sandwich Generation, takes care of their aging parents and young children at the same time. The second kind, known as the Club Sandwich Generation (Funnel et al, 2008), is of two kinds; one takes care of their aging parents, adult children and grandchildren, this group is likely to be in their 50s or 60s, the second group is likely to be of people in their ‘30s or 40s, providing support for their young children, aging parents and grandparents’ (Funnel et al, 2008). In addition, the third kind is the one known as, Open Faced, this group, as describes by Abaya, consists of anyone else who takes part in care of elderly (Funnel et al, 2008). Younger Generation and the Sandwich Generation In a household, the younger generation is likely to be the most psychologically vulnerable to any sort of economic and social variables. As the children are likely to be in the initial socializing phase of their lives, whatever they experience is likely to create strong ideas and perceptions for them in return. Therefore, while being in this phase of life, effective communication and proper socialization is essential to ensure that the children are learning the best values and ideas, which they are likely to internalize for a lifetime. Nevertheless, in a multi-generational family, where the time and resources have to be divided amongst two different generations, the younger generations are likely to receive less than what they actually deserve. According to the research carried out by Sharon Hamill in 1994, on multi-generational families and their impacts on children, the results stated that the children in such families are likely to suffer from problems relating to ineffective communication and incomplete socialization. This caused the children to suffer from psychological problems and most of them ended up taking part in deviant and immoral activities like; being disrespectful to their parents, taking drugs, and participating in petty crimes like shoplifting etc (Kingsmills et al, 1998). A number of effects on the younger generation were identified, while carrying out a research on a multi-generational family; the Johnsons. The Johnsons lived in an extended family, where Mrs. Lilly Johnson and Mr. Theodore Johnson lived with their son of seven years old, and Mr. Theodore Johnson’s elderly father who neared his retirement age. Lilly and Theodore went through major stress while dealing with their finances and emotions. As a result, they could not provide adequate emotional support to their younger generation. Their son consequently, had trouble coping up with school lessons and making friends at school. Therefore, special care is need to taken of the younger generations, while taking care of multi-generational families, owing their vulnerabilities to deviant activities and the more demanding requisite of effective communication and socialization. As quoted by Talcott Parson, ‘socializing the children is one of the three most important roles performed by families in general’ (Zal, 2001). Older Generation and the Sandwich Generation The older generation in a family refers to the people elder to the middle generation, who are the main caretakers and breadwinners of the family. In an extended family, the older generations require special care as they are vulnerable to various health related issues. The old age is seen as an unavoidable and an unwanted phase of one’s life when health issues seen to be inevitable and one can no longer be self dependant, instead they require support and help of the more active members, in accomplishing almost any chore. Therefore, in a family, when an individual nears their phase of old age, they require constant support and help, and this is expected from the physically and financially stable members of the family; the middle aged people. Old age brings along with itself various health related issues. The elderly have trouble doing even basic tasks of dressing up and using the toilet, they expect the sandwich generation to provide support to them and brace them on daily basis. Moreover, researches show that during this time of age, people tend to become crankier and demanding than before, they tend to expect more from their adult children, than what they can actually provide. As a result, it is likely to result in conflicts and misunderstandings, disappointments (Kingsmills, et al, pp. 36, 1998). While studying the relationship between the older and the sandwich generation in the Johnson’s family, the stated trend was noted. While living in a vertically extended family, the father of Mr. Theodore, Mr. Alexander, who neared his retirement age, was no longer self sufficient. He earlier worked as a bank accountant, now spends most of his days sitting idle at home, and as his health deteriorated, Mr. Alexander failed to carry out his tasks on his own, for which he required his son’s assistance. Also, the rising medical expenses strained the financial resources of the household. Moreover, when at times enough support and assistance was not provided to Mr. Alexander, he tend to become upset about it, as he expected little more from his children. Mr. Theodore and Mrs. Lilly, on the other hand struggled to keep both the generations happy and satisfied through painstaking efforts and hard work. Conclusion The sandwich generation consist a group of people stuck in between two generations. They are supposed to juggle the problems and issues of their aging parents, their growing children and their own personal problem at the same time, and come up with the best solutions. The role of a sandwich generation parent is no wonder very hectic and demanding. Nevertheless, in order to come up with the best results, it is essential that they remain stress-free and effectively communicate with both the generations, to help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. References Funnel, R., et al. (2008). Tabner’s Nursing Care: Theory and Practice. Elsevier Australia. Kingsmills, S., et al. (1998). The family squeeze: Surviving the sandwich generation. University of Toronto Press. Roots, C. (1998). The Sandwich Generation: Adult children caring for aging parents. Garland Pub. Zal, M. (2001). The Sandwich Generation: Caught between growing children and aging parents. Da Capo Press. Read More