The Fact
Among U.S. adults ages 50–59 who met Pew Research Center’s sandwich-generation definition in 2025, 61% had a living parent age 65 or older and had provided financial help to an adult child in the prior year, without also having a child under 18 in the home.
What This Means
For many people in their 50s, the younger-generation side of the sandwich is not minor-child care; it is continued financial support to grown children.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, August 27, 2026, survey conducted Sept. 2–8, 2025.