A cusper is a person born near the end of one generation or the beginning of another. While the precise birth years defining when these microgenerations start and end vary, people born in these circumstances tend to have a mix of characteristics common to their adjacent generations and do not closely resemble those born in the middle of their adjacent generations. Generational profiles are built based on people born in the middle of a generation rather than those on the tails of a generation. Generations may overlap by five to seven years. As such, many people identify with aspects of at least two generations.