Caught in the middle: Unravelling motive and practice of elderly care among sandwich generation in Indonesia

Abstract: In the perpetuated absence of wide-ranged aging-related programs in Indonesia, more than one-quarter of the elderly population rely on the family especially adult children, resulting in the prevalence of three-generation households. This research seeks to explain the underlying motive and the practice of caring for the elderly parent from the vantage point of adult children that act as the main support provider and primary caregiver within the household. Those are analyzed with the concepts of reciprocity, intergenerational solidarity, and theory of care by Joan C. Tronto with some emphasis on the gender aspect in caregiving. Drawing on in-depth interviews of adult son and daughter, this study suggests that reciprocity and the solidarity aspect such as affection, functional, and normative familial relation intertwine with one another and no single motive stand out. The analysis shows that different motives act for the different practices of caring. The analysis on the practice of caring based on the theory of care shows that both adult daughter and son perform the practice of caring about and taking care of the elderly parent. However, the practice of caregiving is leaning towards the adult daughter, denoting that women regardless of the genetic daughter or daughter-in-law in the three-generation household are more squeezed in the middle.