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Generativity in multiple roles

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Abstract

Interest in the Eriksonian notion of generativity and its role in the lives of mature adults has recently increased. In the present study, we examined generativity separately in the roles of wife, worker, and mother, and examined the utility of our strategy relative to more global measurement strategies in explaining variation in well-being. Two samples of employed mothers were studied, one sample employed in private industry and the other in a university setting. Statistical analyses demonstrated that measurement equivalence existed across the two samples (i.e., that the patterns and magnitudes of factor loadings did not differ significantly). For 8 of 11 indices of well-being examined across the two samples, role-specific measures of generativity explained significantly greater variation than did global measures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. JDC-Brookdale Institute of Gerontology and Human Development, P.O.B. 13087, 91130, Jerusalem, Israel

    Shelley M. MacDermid & Gabriela Heilbrun

  2. Department of Child Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota

    Laura G. De Haan

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  1. Shelley M. MacDermid
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  2. Laura G. De Haan
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  3. Gabriela Heilbrun
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MacDermid, S.M., De Haan, L.G. & Heilbrun, G. Generativity in multiple roles. J Adult Dev 3, 145–158 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02285775

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