Caught in the middle? Occupancy in multiple roles and help to parents in a national probability sample of Canadian adults. Research Paper No. 4
- Författare
- Rosenthal C, Martin-Matthews A, Matthews SH
- Titel
- Caught in the middle? Occupancy in multiple roles and help to parents in a national probability sample of Canadian adults. Research Paper No. 4
- Utgivningsår
- 1996
- Stad
- Canada
- Utgivare
- IESOP
- Sammanfattning
This article considers, for a Canadian national probability sample of middle-aged women and
men, the question of how typical is the experience of being "caught in the middle" between being
the adult child of elderly parents and other roles. Three roles are examined: adult child, employed
worker, and parent (and a refinement of the parent role, being a parent of a co-resident child).
Occupancy in multiple roles is examined, followed by an investigation of the extent to which adults
in various role combinations actually assist older parents and whether those who provide frequent
help are also those "sandwiched" by competing commitments. The majority of middle-aged children
do not provide frequent help to parents. Notably, the highest proportion of daughters who assist
elderly parents are those in their fifties whose children are no longer co-resident. For both sons and
daughters, being "caught in the middle" is far from a typical experience in this cross-sectional
analysis.