[Women of the middle generation and informal care for the elderly].

In this study women are described as caregivers of both younger and older generations, the so called "sandwich generation', "women in the middle' or "middle generation'. The aim of this article was to collect data indicating the size of this phenomenon and to explore whether women in the middle provide less family care for the elderly than other caregivers. Women in the middle were defined as those women who have dependent children and give help to their parents (-in-law). In 1994 a random sample was drawn among a cohort of women aged 40-54. A telephone survey was carried out (N = 933). It appeared that almost half of the respondents (45%) gave parent care, usually 1-2 mornings/afternoons per week. A considerable proportion of the cohort (29%) were women-in-the-middle. These respondents differed in few respects from other respondents. They were relatively young and worked fewer hours per week outdoors. From this study it could not be concluded that women-in-the-middle provide less parent care than other caregivers. They appeared to spend about the same amount of time on parent care, were as often the primary caregiver of their parents(-in-law) and experienced a similar caregiver burden as often as other caregivers. However, they provided less often very intensive care.