Working Couples Caring for Children and Aging Parents : Effects on Work and Well-Being

As the baby boomer generation approaches midlife, many dual-earner couples are struggling with issues of simultaneously caring for children while tending to aging parents. This timely book uncovers the circumstances faced by these workers, known as the “sandwiched generation”, and identifies what they need in order to fulfill their work and family responsibilities. Authors Margaret B. Neal and Leslie B. Hammer suggest the workplace as an arena for change, proposing that it adapt to the situations of today’s workers by providing flexibility and understanding the needs and priorities of families.

Based on a four-year national study funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Working Couples Caring for Children and Aging Parents examines:

• employer and governmental initiatives affecting work and family life in the United States;
• supports provided to working caregivers in countries other than the United States;
• the effects of being “sandwiched” on work-family fit, well-being, and work; and
• changes in work and family roles and outcomes over time.

This book will interest a broad audience, including students, policymakers, family care practitioners, IO psychologists, work-life professionals, gerontologists, sociologists, human resource managers, and occupational health psychologists.

Leslie B. Hammer, Margaret B. Neal