ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the design of the study and describes the couples who participated in national study. It describes our sample of working, sandwiched-generation couples. The chapter addresses two basic questions based on the data from our first national mailed survey to such couples. First, what are the personal, family, and work characteristics of the men and women who comprise working couples caring both for children and aging parents? Second, how do men and women compare with respect to these characteristics? The chapter examines and compares the personal characteristics, objective role demands, and subjective role characteristics of the husbands and wives who comprised the dual-earner couples in our national sample. It focuses on groups, mailed surveys, and telephone interviews over a 3-year period. The chapter also discusses conducted telephone interviews with selected couples who had completed both waves of the survey and had either improved or declined in the year between the two surveys.
