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Generativity among young, midlife, and older adults
Abstract
Generativity is conceived as a configuration of psychosocial features constellated around the goal of providing for the next generation. This study used a stratified random sampling of young (ages 22-27), midlife (ages 37-42), and older (ages 67-72) adults to examine age-cohort differences in 4 generativity features: generative concern, commitments, actions, and narration. Although prevailing views on generativity (e.g., Erikson, 1963) predict a peak in midlife and decline thereafter, support for this developmental hypothesis was mixed. Midlife Ss scored higher than young and older Ss on concern and actions in a second administration of measures, but not in the first. Generative commitments and narration showed high scores for both midlife and older Ss and relatively low scores for young Ss. Generative concern, assessed with the Loyola Generativity Scale, was positively associated with life satisfaction.
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“For example, as people grow older, this limited-time perspective becomes more dominant/salient and middle-aged and older adults tend to express less concern for self-enhancement and more concern for others [140,141].”
From An Appreciative View of the Brighter Side of Terror Management Processes (2015) · cites this paper as [140]
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Items 401–466 of 466
Brady, L. L. C., & Ossoff, E. P. (2010) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-009-9069-7 · Cited by 1
“Finally, McAdams’generativity work has identified changes in individual generative concern and action associated with the aging process (McAdams et al. 1993).”
BackgroundInfluentialSpira, M. K., & Berger, B. (2001) · Psychoanalytic Social Work · doi:10.1300/j032v08n01_03 · Cited by 1
“The research findings which cite the continued generative efforts of women past midlife seem understandable when the roots of generativity are recognized as a synthesis of two elements–the continued need to be nurturing and the need to do something that transcends death (McAdams et al., 1993).”
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“A generativitás esetében is számos kutatás bizonyította, hogy a két típus együttes megjelenése ragadja meg leginkább a generativitás átfogó jelenségét (Colby és Damon, 1992; Frimer és mtsai, 2011; McAdams, 1993; Mansfield és McAdams, 1996; Newton, Herr, Pollack és McAdams, 2013).”
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Lee, B., & Lee, J. (2014) · The Korean Journal of Community Living Science · doi:10.7856/kjcls.2014.25.3.349 · Cited by 1
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Zhuang, J., Bresnahan, M., Sun, S., Zhu, Y., & Yan, X. (2019) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730.2019.1601301
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Harake, N. R., & Dunlop, W. L. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1873-1
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Camera, G., Dellagiulia, A., Spinelli, M., Fasolo, M., & Lionetti, F. (2023) · Journal of Adult Development · doi:10.1007/s10804-023-09448-5
Gutiérrez‐Robledo, L. M., Tella‐Vega, P., García-Chanes, R. E., Lozano-Juárez, L. R., Medina-Campos, R. H., García-Andrade, S., Escamilla-Núñez, A., Thiyagarajan, J. A., Diaz, T., Mikton, C., et al. (2023) · Age and Ageing · doi:10.1093/ageing/afad099
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Isada, Y. (2024) · The Proceedings of the International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences. · doi:10.33422/hpsconf.v1i1.230
“…emphasized that these aspects of generational inheritance vary with age, a view supported by subsequent research by Stewart & Vandewater (1998) and McAdams et al. (1993), which found that commitment to generational concerns tends to increase among middle-aged and older groups and decrease among…”
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“Generativity, reflecting concern for and involvement in the well-being of future generations, was measured using the 20-item Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS; McAdams et al., 1993).”
Self-citationIgreja, S., Paúl, C., & Teles, S. (2026) · Frontiers in Sociology · doi:10.3389/fsoc.2026.1800473
“Studies have demonstrated its positive correlation with life satisfaction (McAdams and de St Aubin, 1992; McAdams et al., 1993) and have recognized it as a determinant of happiness (Shahen et al., 2019).”
Workplace resilience in the face of death: the generative power of mortality reflection
Xu, Y., Yue, Y., Zhang, Y., & Pan, J. (2026) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2026.2683507
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Jung, H., & Yi, S. (2026) · Journal of Lifelong Learning Society · doi:10.26857/jlls.2026.8.22.3.1
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Harris, C. B., & McIlwain, N. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-33040-7.00017-8
Belmonte, C. J. O. (2014) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e512142015-637
Metadata
- Authors
- McAdams, D. P., de St. Aubin, E., & Logan, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- ORCID
- McAdams, Dan P.
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 1993-06
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 221-230
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W4243999006
- Cited by
- 614
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 9.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- generativity, life stages, young adults, midlife, older adults, developmental differences
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Adult, Aged, Aging, Aspirations, Psychological, Creativity, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Goals, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Personal Satisfaction, Personality Inventory, Cohort Studies, Intergenerational Relations
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