Millennials As Caregivers

We typically think of family caregivers as women in the Baby Boomer generation, age late 40s to late 50s. But new information from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving reveals that a full 10 percent of family caregivers are Millennials. That’s 10 million people!

The typical profile of this person is someone who is 27 years old, works part time, and has household income below the national medium.

Why this increase?

One reason is some Baby Boomers need a little help with older loved ones.  And it seems Millennials are actually happy to help.  Of course there are some circumstances where Millennials have had to step up for the care of their own parents.  After all, diseases like early onset Alzheimer’s are being diagnosed more frequently.  But for the most part, Millennials are helping Boomers take care of what is left of the Greatest Generation and perhaps the first wave of Boomers.

Millennials who are supposed to be at a stage of life where they are absorbed in their own careers and families.  Often they are balancing a career, getting advanced degrees, caregiving and raising children, making them some of the youngest to handle sandwich generation stress.   This makes caregiver Millennials a unique group.  Of those 10 million Millennial caregivers, there is an equal split between men and women.  That’s a little different than the typical caregiver demographic, which skews toward women.  But Millennials attitudes toward masculinity have changed and men are more likely to see themselves as nurturers, too.  For additional data on millennial caregivers, see this article.

Technology Millennials Use

The genus™ App is truly something Millennials gratefully grasp onto.  They grew up with technology and embrace the opportunity to use it to provide the best care possible for their loved ones.   With so many Millennials having to work far from where their parents live, having a tool like the genus™ App allows them to fulfill their career goals while attending to family responsibilities.   They are thrilled to have a platform that coordinates outside help, visits, medical information, and valuable resources, all ready to be accessed at the touch of a button.

Author: Martha Jocis

Martha is an educator, author, editor and consultant. She has spent the last 10 years taking care of aging family members and as a result, has learned a great deal through first hand experience. Going from caring for little ones to caring for the aging, Martha has a compassion for helping others.