International Population Conference IUSSP 2017 Abstract submission - - PDF document

International Population Conference

IUSSP 2017 Abstract submission

The provision of support towards multiple generations. How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family? Authors: Jane Falkingham, Maria Evandrou, Madelin Gómez-León and Athina Vlachantoni ESRC Centre for Population Change and Centre for Research on Ageing Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, UK Abstract With improving life expectancy, increasing female employment and changing patterns of family formation, the large generation of baby boomers currently entering mid and late life face the prospect of juggling multiple roles, combining paid work with unpaid care for both their older parents and support for their adult children and grandchildren. With an increasing number of families sharing more years of their life with multiple generations, there is a growing need to understand the pressures that individuals face in reconciling these multiple roles and how policy might respond to support them. This paper uses recent data from the 1958 National Child Development Survey, collected when respondents were aged 55, to examine how mid-life men and women distribute their time dedicated to provide help to their elderly parents and to their own adult children in terms of providing grandchild care, and whether there is a trade-off in provision of support between the competing demands of the different generations. Preliminary results show that around one third of mid-life individuals are ‘at risk’ of providing care to multiple generations, of whom half are providing care to both generations simultaneously and only one in ten are not providing any support to either generation.

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• IUSSP2017. The provision of support towards multiple generations.

How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family? Authors: Falkingham, Evandrou, Gómez-León and Vlachantoni

Extended abstract Introduction With improving life expectancy, increasing female employment and changing patterns of family formation, the large generation of baby boomers currently entering mid and late life face the prospect of juggling multiple roles, combining paid work with unpaid care for both their older parents and support for their adult children and grandchildren the so- called “sandwich generation” (Evandrou and Glaser, 2004; Fingerman et al., 2012). Over the past decade the prevalence

• f sandwiched individuals has been increasing (Rubin and White-Means, 2009; Wiemers and Bianchi, 2015; Williams,

2005), with evidence increasing support from this group towards individuals from multiple generations (Friedman et al., 2015). With an increasing number of families sharing more years of their life with multiple generations, there is a growing need to understand the pressures that individuals face in reconciling these multiple roles and how policy might respond to support them. To date, many of the studies on unpaid work have focussed only on women, reflecting the traditional female role of taking care of the family. However, those studies that have also analysed men’s caregiving behaviour have found evidence

• f their involvement, although at much lower intensity than women. For example, a study in the UK by Evandrou and

Glaser (2002) has shown that there some men provide multiple care, and that when it comes to broader juggling of multiple roles, such as parenting, caring for elderly persons and paid employment, men’s involvement is in fact increasing by birth cohorts (Evandrou et al., 2002). Similarly, a recent study in the USA has shown that men have a similar prevalence

• f being involved in caring for multiple generations, although with less intensity (Friedman et al., 2015).

Although the ‘sandwiched generation’ are now attracting increasing attention, with a number of recent studies in the US (Friedman et al., 2015; Wiemers and Bianchi, 2015) and Ireland (McGarrigle and Kenny, 2013), research in the UK remains sparse, with those studies that have addressed this area primarily using data from a decade or more ago (Evandrou and Glaser, 2002; Evandrou et al., 2002; Glaser et al., 2006; Grundy and Henretta, 2006). This research updates our knowledge on the current trends and profiles of the sandwich generation in the UK context, for both men and women, using data from the National Child Development Survey. In particular, we investigate the extent to which the provision of grandchild care affects the provision of support to older generations and vice versa, and examine the determinants of being a dual carer (towards both parents/parents-in-law and towards adult children, in the form of grandchild care provision) compared with caring for the younger or the older generation. The research investigates the multiple provision of help, towards the older generation (respondent’s parents/parents-in- law) and towards the younger generation (the respondents’ grandchild(ren)), by addressing the following questions:

• How do mid-life men and women distribute their provision of help between their parents/ parents-in-law and the

grandchildren?

• Does providing help to one generation reduce the likelihood of helping the other generation?
• Which are the socio-demographic characteristics that distinguish those supporting multiple generations from those

who help only one generation or none of them? The first part of the paper address the first question by describing the profiles of the sandwich individuals and then the prevalence of providing support towards their parents/parents-in-law and/or their grandchildren, as well as the intensity

• f support provided by men and women.

We then tackle our second research question where we test the hypothesis of family solidarity and competing demands by examining whether providing support to one generation could affect the likelihood of providing support to the other

• generation. We extend the research by addressing the last research question determining the socio-economic and

demographic characteristics of the sandwich generation that are associated with providing support for individuals from multiple generations compared with providing support for only one generation. Data and methodology The National Child Development Survey (NCDS) started with more than 17,000 children born in a single week in March 1958 in Great Britain. The cohort have then been followed up throughout the course of their lives at selected intervals, with the most recent data collection at age 55 in 2013. In 2013 the NCDS collected information on provision of help to parents and care provided to grandchildren from all respondents (N=9,137). Our main analytical sample comprises all individuals who were interviewed at 55, and were ‘at risk’ of providing multiple care (with at least one parent or parent- in-law alive as well as with at least one grandchild alive) and with no missing information on the co-variables included in the multivariate analysis, resulting in a final sub-sample of 2,426 individuals.

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• IUSSP2017. The provision of support towards multiple generations.

How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family? Authors: Falkingham, Evandrou, Gómez-León and Vlachantoni

Caring for parents or parents-in-laws is used to measure the care provided to the upward generation, amongst those who are at risk of providing care. We consider those who are providing help with at least one of the types of activities (Dressing, eating, bathing, washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking, financial assistance, shopping, transportation, gardening and others). The survey also includes information on how much time they spent doing these tasks in a typical week (0…168 hours). Regarding the presence of grandchildren, the survey asked if respondents have grandchildren (at risk of caring) and if so how many. This includes step-grandchildren and adopted grandchildren, irrespectively of whether the parents of the grandchildren were alive or not. Further information was then collected regarding caring provision towards grandchildren, including how often (frequency) and for how many hours (intensity). The ‘demand for informal support’ has been previously measured by using the number of individuals from each generation and the co-residence pattern of the carer and the person cared for (Dykstra and Fokkema, 2011; Zimmer and Kwong, 2003). Thus, we included family structure and proximity variables to account for need and availability of providing help using: number of grandchildren and parents/ parents-in-law alive; and co-residence with parents/parents-in-law or

• grandchildren. We also included as covariates the following characteristics of the respondents at the time of care

provision to account for observable heterogeneity: housing tenure, education, marital status, health status and the employment status for both the respondent and their partner. The analysis is conducted in three steps. First, we examine the characteristics of sandwich and non-sandwich individuals in the overall sample. Then, focusing on those sandwiched between two generations, we examine the provision of help towards parents/parents-in-laws and grandchildren by the gender of the carer and the intensity of the care provided (number of hours of care per week). Second, using logistic regression analysis we explore the association between providing support to one generation and helping the other, controlling for several demographic and socio-economic covariates relating to the respondent. Thirdly, we further explore how the characteristics of multiple caregivers differ from those who are caring for only one generation, using multinomial logistic regression and controlling for a set of socio- economic covariates. Preliminary findings The prevalence of the sandwiched generation is provided in Table 1. Almost one third of the sample are ‘sandwiched’ between family members from the older generation (parents or parents-in-law) and the youngest generation (grandchildren), thus they are at risk of providing care towards either their parents/ parents-in-law, to their grandchildren

• r to both of them simultaneously. We can also notice from the table that almost half of this cohort in study who are age

55 have at least one parent/parent-in-law alive and no grandchildren, thus there is a potential for being sandwiched in the near future for this cohort.

Table 1. Individuals of age 55 by sex and whether they have at least one parent/parent-in-law and grandchild alive. Male Female Total No parents/ parent-in-law alive or grandchildren alive 454 589 1,043 11.1 13.6 12.4 At least one parent/ parent-in-law alive, no grandchildren 2,288 1,911 4,199 55.9 44.0 49.8 At least one grandchild alive, no parents/ parent-in-law alive 243 516 759 6.0 11.9 9.0 At least one parent/ parent-in-law and grandchild alive 1,102 1,324 2,426 (Sandwich individuals) 27.0 30.5 28.8 Total 4,087 4,340 8,427 100.0 100.0 100.0 At least one parent/parent-in-law and one child alive 52.92 51.97 52.43

Source: National Child Development Survey (NCDS, wave 9).

Table 2 illustrates the provision of support amongst men and women within the sandwiched group, with all possible combinations of intensity of care provided in a typical week (not caring/9hrs or less/10-19/20+). Among those who are ‘sandwiched’, a fairly small group are not providing help to any of the generations (13 and 10 % for men and women respectively). Consistent with previous studies, a higher proportion of women provide support than men, and the

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• IUSSP2017. The provision of support towards multiple generations.

How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family? Authors: Falkingham, Evandrou, Gómez-León and Vlachantoni

provision of help is higher towards the younger generation than to the older generation (Wiemers and Bianchi, 2015). Over 71 and 79 % of men and women respectively provide care for grandchildren, whereas 65 and 60 % provides support for their parents or parents-in-law. Regarding the intensity of the care provided to each generation, is also higher when caring for grandchildren, with 11 and 17 % of men and women caring for grandchildren for more than 20 hours a week; whereas only three and five % of men and women are caring for 20 hours or more a week for their parents or parents- in-law.

Table 2. Combination of caring for grandchildren and parents or in-laws. Caring for Parents or parents-in-laws Not caring 9 or less 10-19 20+ Total Men Caring for Grandchildren Not caring 12.9 14.2 1.0 0.6 28.7 9 or less 15.3 29.7 2.5 1.1 48.6 10-19 3.6 5.9 1.2 0.7 11.4 20+ 3.7 5.9 1.0 0.7 11.3 Total 35.5 55.6 5.7 3.2 100.0 Women Caring for Grandchildren Not caring 10.0 8.1 0.8 0.4 19.3 9 or less 20.7 24.0 3.3 2.3 50.2 10-19 4.5 6.9 1.4 1.1 13.8 20+ 4.8 7.6 2.9 1.6 16.8 Total 39.9 46.5 8.3 5.3 100.0

Source: National Child Development Survey (NCDS, wave 9).

Finally, about half of the sandwich individuals are caring simultaneously for both generations, with 49 % of men and 51 %

• f women. Men in a simultaneous caring role tend to provide less intense caring than women, with 30 % providing 9

hours or less a week for each generation, while the corresponding figure amongst women is 24 %. The provision of care towards the younger generation is also higher amongst those providing multiple care. This could be related with the stage

• f the lifecourse of these generations, with more demand from grandchild care, whereas parents might not be yet in

need of intense care/support, which could be higher in the years to come. The higher proportion of sandwich individuals providing simultaneous help found here is higher than what has been previously found for the UK with data from the nineties (Grundy and Henretta, 2006) and more recently for the US (Friedman et al., 2015). This could be due to increasing commitments of the sandwich generation, but such a difference is more likely a consequence of the broader definition of help provided to parents/parents-in-law, despite the narrow definition of caring for the younger generation (using only help with grandchild care). The next section of the research focuses on the differences between being a caregiver for multiple generations (both grandchildren and parents or parents-in-law) and being caregiver only for each of the generations. Multinomial logistic regressions for men and women separately are discussed. Results from the multivariate analysis of provision of care towards one generation and support to the other (including the intensity of the care provided) indicate there is solidarity between generations for both men and women. Caring for grandchildren is positively associated with caring for the parents/parents-in-law and vice versa. Moreover, the intensity of the support provided for one generation also influences the likelihood of caring for the other generation. The higher the intensity of the care provided for one generations, the higher the likelihood of caring for the other generation. However, it should be notice that the effect of the intensity is stronger on the provision of care for grandchildren. In this line, when women provide help to their parents -of 10hrs or more a week- it more than trebles the chances of being caring for grandchildren (for men is three times higher); whereas when women provide care for their grandchildren it doubles the help provided to their parents/parents-in-law (for men increases in 80 %).

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• IUSSP2017. The provision of support towards multiple generations.

How does the ‘sandwiched’ generation balance help towards their family? Authors: Falkingham, Evandrou, Gómez-León and Vlachantoni

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