Juggling balls and skittles : issues and dilemmas faced by sandwich generation Maltese women

Abstract

Demographic changes in today’s population, such as longer life expectancy and declining fertility rate, are responsible for the growing phenomenon of the sandwich generation – the middle-aged layer individuals who find themselves responsible for providing multigenerational support to their aging parents as well as their children. This study focuses on the middle-aged woman as the main provider of care and support. It examines whether these women experience a high level of stress, and whether employment outside the house has an added positive or negative effect. The effect of the quality of the marital relationship and the support that the sandwiched woman gets from her spouse as well as from her siblings was also investigated. A quantitative approach was used and a sample of 155 participants between the ages of 40 and 65 years were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the topic. Findings show that contrary to general belief, working sandwich generation women cope better and are less stressed than their counterparts who do not work outside the home. Also, women living in a supportive environment feel less stressed but the perception of how successful the woman feels in coping with caring and parenting plays a significant role in her overall well-being. The study focused on the use of counselling by sandwich generation women and the effect it has on their level of coping. Findings indicate that there is lack of awareness of counselling among middle-aged women and so the study includes recommendations of ways of tackling this issue and indicates further research needs.