Abstract
This study examined whether the midlife transition of men and women in the “sandwich generation” was related to their 15- to 19-year-old adolescent's psychosocial development and their relationships with their own aging parents (i.e., the grandparents). One hundred eighty-six (186) respondents representing adolescents, mothers, and fathers from 62 families completed questionnaires that assessed adolescents' psychological autonomy and involvement in adult-type roles, adults' midlife transition and marital quality, and adults' relationships with their aging parents. Analyses conducted by domain revealed that women reported greater concerns with midlife issues when their adolescents demonstrated fewer signs of psychological autonomy and involvement in adult-type roles whereas men reported more intense midlife concerns when they experienced more strain in their relations with their own parents. When adolescent, grandparent, and marital factors were considered conjointly, the results indicated that women's level of midlife concerns was still related to their adolescents' development, but men's level of concerns was most strongly related to their satisfaction with the quality of their marriages. The discussion focuses on adult women's and men's experience of the midlife transition in relation to adolescents' development, parents' relationships with aging grandparents, and marital quality.
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Hamill, S.B., Goldberg, W.A. Between adolescents and aging grandparents: Midlife concerns of adults in the “Sandwich generation”. J Adult Dev 4, 135–147 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02510593
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02510593