More evidence on women (and men) in the middle

A recent article by Rosenthal, Matthews and Marshall (1989) focused on two related questions: How typical is Brody's "woman in the middle" and how "normative" is parent care? This research builds on their work by presenting similar analyses for a somewhat larger probability sample of middle-aged women from a U.S. metropolitan area, by presenting parallel analyses for men in the same age groups, and by presenting data on more active measures for an expanded set of roles and role combinations not included in the original article. The four major roles analyzed by Rosenthal et al. (spouse, paid worker, adult child of aging parent, and parent) are found to be typical of those in their forties and early fifties, but each falls off rapidly after that point. Men are almost as likely to experience each of these as are women, and more likely to be married. When measures of more active involvement in these roles are examined, much smaller percentages of women or men are seen participating at any given age, and the combination of full-time work, active parenting, and helping or living with parents is uncommon. It is suggested that the situation described by Brody is not typical of middle-aged women or men in the U.S. today at any given time, but that collection of data on histories of caregiving is needed.