Family Intergenerational Stress: Concept Exploration and Development via Coping and Identity Management

The sandwich generation faces dual responsibilities of supporting parents and raising children, resulting in heightened levels of stress and negative work-related outcomes. Despite a wealth of research on the sandwich generation, few studies have examined the specific nature of the multigenerational needs of the sandwich generation. Accordingly, we introduce a new concept termed family intergenerational stress (FIS), which refers to the interaction and integration of stresses from elder caregiving, child-rearing, and associated challenges with self-definition. Through the lens of FIS, we collected interview data from 137 sandwich generation employees, secondary network data, and field observation data from 21 employees. We further used grounded theory to explore employees' stress and coping responses to dual family responsibilities. Findings indicate that employees with both elder caregiving and child-rearing responsibilities experience FIS. This, in turn, threatens their identity as an ideal worker and is associated with lower work engagement. Findings further reveal that in coping with FIS, employees adopt different identity-based strategies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.