Introduction

Over the last years, demographic and social changes in Western societies have led to changes in family relationships. Particularly in Europe, we have been supporting the development of welfare states which promote the survival of the most vulnerable and dependent, such as the elderly. However, a decrease in birth rates and increase in longevity have increased the imbalance between those who support the welfare system (active population) and those who only benefit from it (inactive population). The current worldwide financial crisis is likely to further enhance competition between generations for scarce resources and services. On the one hand, increasing longevity leads to an extended retirement period and increases public spending on pensions and health care. On the other hand, the difficulty of entering the job market and securing a permanent position is an important setback affecting the younger generation. They tend to remain financially dependent on their parents for more years when compared to previous generations, postponing marriage and parenthood (Seedsman, 2006; Daatland, 2007; Yarrow, 2009; Ferring, 2010; Haberkern and Szydlik, 2010). Between the financially dependent youth and the elderly pensioners lies the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ (Grundy and Henretta, 2006), composed of middle-aged adults who face increasing demands from both their children and their parents. Changes in the situation of women also deserve attention, considering the demographic and social changes that impact on family intergenerational solidarity. In fact, intergenerational solidarity is a multidimensional construct that cannot be reduced to its financial facet (Bengston and Roberts, 1991; see also Chapter Two). Women are largely the main providers of instrumental and emotional support, especially for older relatives (for example, Stein et al, 1998). They are the most important mediators of the relations between generations both publicly (performing most professional care and services) and privately (performing most informal care and coordinating and complementing professional care and services) (Attias-Donfut and Arber, 2000). However, women are nowadays well represented in higher education and the labour market, and gender values and stereotypes are less pervasive than in previous generations. This shift of women's roles in society is thus conflicting with the central position they still occupy in intergenerational help, care and support, bringing special challenges for female members of the sandwich generation.

The phenomenon of the ageing population requires new support systems and interpersonal relationships between generations.