Table of Contents
Definition of Sandwich Generation
(noun) A generation of people who must simultaneously care for their children and their elderly parents.
Example of Sandwich Generation
- My parents are part of the sandwich generation, they support me and my grandparents.
Etymology of Sandwich Generation
- Coined by Dorothy Miller in “The ‘Sandwich’ Generation: Adult Children of the Aging” (1981).
Sandwich Generation Pronunciation
Syllabification: sand·wich gen·er·a·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /sAnd-wich jen-uhr-rAY-shuhn/
- British English – /sAn-wij je-nuh-rAY-shuhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈsændwɪʧ ˌʤɛnəˈreɪʃən/
- British English – /ˈsænwɪʤ ˌʤɛnəˈreɪʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: sandwich generations
- In some cultures and societies, particularly those with extended families, this is the norm and with the increase in life expectancy occurring around the globe, sandwich generations will become more common.
- A type of generation.
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “sandwich” and “generation” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Hamill, Sharon Boland. 1994. “Parent-adolescent Communication in Sandwich Generation Families.” Journal of Adolescent Research 9(4):458–82. doi:10.1177/074355489494005.
- Ingersoll-Dayton, Berit, Margaret B. Neal, and Leslie B. Hammer. 2001. “Aging Parents Helping Adult Children: The Experience of the Sandwiched Generation.” Family Relations 50(3):262–71. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2001.00262.x.
- Kingsmill, Suzanne, and Benjamin Schlesinger. 1998. The Family Squeeze: Surviving the Sandwich Generation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Lachman, Margie E. 2004. “Development in Midlife.” Annual Review of Psychology 55:305–31. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141521.
- Miller, Dorothy A. 1981. “The ‘Sandwich’ Generation: Adult Children of the Aging.” Social Work 26(5):419–23. doi:10.1093/sw/26.5.419.
- Roots, Charles R. 1998. The Sandwich Generation: Adult Children Caring for Aging Parents. New York: Garland.
Related Terms
- family
- head of household
- homework
- household
- household allocative system
- household work strategy
- marriage
- matriarchal authority
- patriarchal authority
- second shift
- symmetrical family
Works Consulted
Encyclopædia Britannica. (N.d.) Britannica Digital Learning. (https://britannicalearn.com/).
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Cite the Definition of Sandwich Generation
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “sandwich generation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 19, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/sandwich-generation/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
sandwich generation. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/sandwich-generation/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “sandwich generation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 19, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/sandwich-generation/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“sandwich generation.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/sandwich-generation/>.