Intergenerational transmission of generativity and its contribution to well-being

Abstract

According to Erik Erikson (1950/1963), generativity was a salient issue in middle adulthood and defined as the interests in caring for the next generation. The past studies mainly showed that generativity was positively correlated to well-being, but the underlying mechanism was less known to the researchers. Given its theoretical significance and policy implications, the current study adopted midlife parenthood as a typical context of generativity, and investigated the relationship between generativity and psychological well-being among midlife parents and their adult offspring. Three hypotheses were examined. Firstly, parental generativity was hypothesized to directly promote offspring well-being. Secondly, through intergenerational transmission of generativity, parental generativity could indirectly enhance offspring well-being. Thirdly, when parental generativity could promote offspring generativity development and psychological well-being, parental well-being could be bolstered with that of offspring. 150 dyads of a midlife parent and an offspring were recruited to fill in a survey about generative concern, generative behavior, and psychological well-being. All the research hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling technique, and the results partially supported the hypotheses. Parental generative concern, but not behavior, could directly and indirectly enhance offspring well-being. It could also predict offspring generative concern and behavior. In turn, parental well-being was improved with offspring well-being. The relationship of parental generativity and offspring development were discussed. Further research should investigate the changing social norms and the role of generative behavior to psychological well-being. The applied values of the current findings were also proposed.