I found this article to be
most interesting because just recently, my husband and I got really sick from
the flu and my oldest daughter had to come to our home to take care of us. We are both in our middle fifties and
helpless. My daughter took us to the
doctor, got our meds, groceries, washed our cloths and beddings, cleaned and
paid our bills; all the while caring for her family
The empty nest syndrome is the non-clinical
condition that can lead parents with a feelings of loneliness after their
children have grown and moved out, is becoming a thing of the past in an age
where those individuals are caring for both aging parents and kids who have
trouble finding employment and escaping the family home. Researchers say that this new situation
brings with it problems of its own.
Journal of Aging Studies, researchers from Oregon State University report current
economic conditions and a highly-competitive job market have made it difficult
for young adults to set out on their own, start a career and a family
independent of their parents. At the
same time, seniors are living longer, and the special care they need often
requires them to move in with their children, potentially placing three
generations under the same roof.
“The end result,
researchers suggest, are ‘empty nest’ plans that often have to be put on hold,
and a mixed bag of emotions, ranging from joy and “happy-to-help” to
uncertainty, frustration and exhaustion
“We mostly found very
positive feelings about adults helping their children in the emerging adulthood
stage of life, from around ages 18 to 30,” explained Karen Hooker, director of
the OSU Center for Healthy Aging Research. “Feelings about
helping parents weren’t so much negative as just filled with more angst and
uncertainty. As a society expect to be
taking on a parent-caring role, even though most of us will at some point in
our lives. The average middle-aged couple
has more parents than children.”
Hooker and her team based
their findings on data obtained from six
different focus groups between 2009 and 2010. They found the majority of
middle-aged parents with young adult children are reasonably happy to help them
through tough times, and they also understand it is harder to get started in
life now than it was in the recent past. That is due to a variety of different
social, economic, and cultural factors, which have “combined to radically
challenge the traditional concept of an empty nest,” the scientists said.
“The recession that began
in 2008 yielded record unemployment, substantial stock market losses, lower
home values and increased demand for higher levels of education,” the
university said. “Around the same time, advances in health care and life
expectancy have made it possible for many adults to live far longer than they
used to – although not always in good health, and often needing extensive care
or assistance.”
The study also discovered
while parents do not necessarily expect their children to be 100-percent
financially independent during their early 20s, they have a somewhat different
reaction to caring for aging parents. Mothers and fathers who require an
increasing amount of care could be both a joy and a burden. The care of their parent was not, in most
cases, something the middle-aged adults had expected to deal with.
“Many middle-aged people
said it was difficult to make any plans, due to disruptions and uncertainty
about a parent’s health at any point in time.
And most said they we’re willing to help their aging parents, but a
sense of being time-starved was a frequent theme,” the statement said. “The dual demands of children still
transitioning to independence, and aging parents who need increasing amounts of
care is causing many of the study participants to re-evaluate their own lives”.
“Some say they want to make
better plans for their future so they don’t pose such a burden to their
children, and begin researching long-term care insurance. Soul-searching is apparent,” it added. “An increasing awareness of the challenges
produced by these new life stages may cause more individuals to anticipate
their own needs, make more concrete plans for the future, reduce ambivalent approaches,
and have more conversations with families about their own late-life care,” the
researchers said in their study”.
Staff, R. O. (2013, Januaury 26). Middle Age Adult
Have Easier Caring ForTheir Kids Then Their Parents. Retrieved from Red
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