Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Women from the mid-30s to mid-50s are less likely than Americans overall to be very happy, and many are racked by worries about aging parents and other family members, a national survey reports today.
Money, time and health concerns loomed large in the poll by independent pollsters Pursuant Inc. of more than 1,100 women who have at least one living parent. About 20% said they were very happy, compared with 34% for the U.S. population overall in another survey by the Pew Research Center this year.
More than half of the women were concerned about an elderly relative's health. Those who had ailing relatives -- usually a mother or father -- were much more likely to feel depressed and to worry about having enough time for family members. They also had more trouble managing stress. About two out of three women were employed.
The poll of women ages 35 to 54, commissioned by the New York Academy of Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The bleak scenario doesn't surprise Deb Rubenstein, a social worker who counsels "sandwich generation" women, those who have children at home and aging parents, at IONA Senior Services, a social-service agency in Washington, D.C. "I've had women burst into tears in my office. They say 'Not only is my father in the hospital, and they're calling me at work saying, "Figure out where he's going next because he's not going home," but the school's calling to say my learning-disabled child has developed another problem.'"
Typically, when emergencies with aging parents hit, "these women already have their plates 110% full," she says. Women do about 70% of the caregiving for elderly relatives with chronic illness, national studies have shown.
Counseling and referrals to assisted living facilities or other resources for the elderly can help, she says. About one out of four women surveyed said they or relatives had sought help from aging services experts.
Later marriages, later child-bearing and longer life spans are forcing more women into taking responsibility for their kids and their parents, says social demographer Janice Wassel of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. The "sandwich" years don't even go away by the 60s anymore. "We've got these 60-year-olds who take care of 92-year-old parents and 16-year-old kids," she says.
Providing elder care was linked to feeling overworked in a study of employed adults last year, but taking care of children was not, says Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute, which did the study.
Such overwork may be common. In another institute study, 35% of U.S. employees said they had elder care responsibilities during the last year. "It can be episodic, unpredictable and very stressful," Galinsky says.
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
