Generativity And Adult Development

Generativity is the adult's concern for and commitment to promoting the next generation through parenting, teaching, mentoring and generating products and outcomes that aim to benefit a world that will outlive the self. Almost fifty years ago, Erik Erikson introduced this concept in his famous eight-stage model of human development as the seventh stage of the life cycle, generation vs. stagnation. A new, interdisciplinary wave of scholarship has linked generativity in contemporary life. Thus, a new, interdisciplinary wave of scholarship has linked generativity to such ideas as creativity, leadership, altruism, social responsibility, citizenship and volunteerism.