sandwich generation

A term that describes adults who care for aging parents as well as their own children and are "sandwiched" between the older and younger generations. 

Historical perspective: By 2017, nearly half of adults in their 40s and 50s who are either raising a young child or financially supporting an adult child also have at least one parent age 65 or older according to The Week. The vast majority of the sandwich generation is middle-aged—71 percent are in their 40s and 50s—but 19 percent are younger than 40. Greater longevity also means that a "senior sandwich generation" is emerging, with more 60-somethings taking care of parents in their 90s and beyond. The U.S. Census Bureau expects the population of people older than 85, referred to by demographers as the “old old,” to triple from 2012 to 2050 to 18 million. Meanwhile, 48 percent of adults say they provide at least some sort of financial support to their adult children, while 27 percent say they are their children’s primary support. Saddled with student debt and the lingering effects of the recession, more adults ages 18 to 34 live with their parents than in any other arrangement. The last time that was true was in the 19th century.