Mental health fears for the hard-pressed sandwich generation

As 1.3million care for their children AND parents...

A generation of parents who provide for their children while caring for their own mothers and fathers are showing warning signs of mental ill-health, an official analysis revealed yesterday.

it said that the strain of looking after both young and elderly family members is affecting the mental health of more than a quarter of 1.3million people in the so-called ‘sandwich generation’.

they are unhappier than other people and likely to face financial pressure because of the difficulties of combining long hours of family care with a job, the report said.

the breakdown by the office for national Statistics (ONS) is the first to establish the scale of the phenomenon.

it said the parents are mainly between 35 and 55, nearly three-quarters have

‘Nothing more guilt-inducing’

jobs or run their own businesses, and more than half have mortgages. More than six out of ten are mothers.

the greatest pressures appear to be felt by those who devote between two and three hours a day to caring for their own parents.

the report said: ‘With life expectancy increasing and women having their first child at an older age, around 3 per cent of the population, equivalent to more than 1.3million people, have this twin responsibility.’

in Scotland, 30 per cent of working parents care for their own mother, father or other relative, while almost 70 per cent expect to be doing so within the next decade, according to figures from the Modern Families index in 2015. it added that Scotland’s elderly population is growing faster than the UK average.

the onS report, based on official surveys, found that 27 per cent of ‘sandwich’ carers have symptoms of ‘mild to moderate’ mental ill-health, including anxiety or depression, compared with 22 per cent of the general population. Among those who spend more than 20 hours a week caring for parents, 33 per cent show symptoms of mental health difficulties.

Carers who devote between ten and 19 hours a week reported nearly 20 per cent lower satisfaction with life than the average person, and nearly 15 per cent less with their health. By contrast, those who spend four hours or less a week looking after parents feel more satisfied with their lives.

Dr niall Campbell, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital in roehampton, said: ‘there is almost nothing more emotionally draining or guilt-inducing than looking after ageing parents and raising children while trying to keep a job going. Women, and it is mostly women, are carrying enormous physical and mental burdens.’

Steve Webb of the royal London insurance group said: ‘government needs to review the support given to this sandwich generation as a matter of urgency.’