Costs mount for 'sandwich generation'

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Costs are rising for the so-called sandwich generation, middle-age Americans with aging parents who also are raising children, U.S. researchers said.

A Pew Research Center report on social and demographic trends, issued Wednesday, said 47 percent of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a child age 18 or older. Fifteen percent of middle-age Americans provide financial support to both an aging parent and a child, the study found.

The percentage of sandwich generation adults hasn't changed substantially in recent years, but the financial burden of providing care for again and younger family members is growing -- with providing for grown children accounting for most of the added financial pressure.

The survey found 48 percent of adults ages 40 to 59 have provided some financial support to at least one grown child in the past year. Twenty-seven percent provided the primary support for their grown children.

Those numbers are up significantly from 2005, Pew said.

Twenty-one percent of middle-age adults have provided financial support to a parent age 65 or older in the past year -- about the same as in 2005.

The survey was conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 5 among 2,511 adults nationwide. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points.