The codevelopment of generativity and well-being into early late life

Abstract

The current manuscript replicates and extends the few existing studies of generativity in later adulthood with regard to two aims: (a) to model individual differences in the development of generativity into early late life and (b) to examine the relationship between development in generativity and development in well-being into late midlife and early late life. Data from the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS) are used to address these aims in a preregistered secondary analysis of existing RALS data (see https://osf.io/syp2u). Analyses quantify individual development of generativity in a sample of 271 RALS participants who completed the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS; McAdams & de St. Aubin, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1992, 62, p. 1003) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB; Ryff, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989a, 57, p. 1069) during the most recent two waves of the RALS (2000-2012). Generativity demonstrated substantial rank-order stability but no mean-level change. There was substantial variability in both stability and change. Dual score change models showed a robust concurrent relationship between generativity and well-being at the first assessment and meaningful correlated change over time. While demographic and social role covariates were not associated with study findings, one of the most important limitations of the RALS is the racial and ethnic homogeneity of the sample, which constrains generalizability and potentially may restrict the range of these variables. Results are discussed in the context of our current understanding of the development and impact of generativity in later adulthood, and directions for future research in this area are identified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).