| The current research examines the relationship between generativity and psychological well-being at midlife, specifically the ability of generative behaviors to predict psychological well-being after controlling for demographic variables and health, and a partial test of McAdams and de St. Aubin's (1992) model of generativity. Based on Erikson's (1950/1963) theory, the ego crisis during middle age is generativity vs. stagnation and therefore it was proposed that generative behavior would predict psychological well being during middle age. Previous research by McAdams and de St. Aubin's (1992) and Grossbaum and Bates (2002) had found a significant positive relationship between generative concern and psychological well-being but not between generative behaviors and psychological well-being. In order to further study this relationship, a new measure of generative behaviors, the Generative Network Questionnaire, GNQ, was developed and validated. The GNQ showed convergent validity of with the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS) and scores on the GNQ were significantly higher for middle-age participants than college-age participants. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to determine the ability of generative behaviors to predict psychological-well being after controlling for age, marital status, education, income and health. The results indicate that marital status and the raw scores on the GNQ significantly predicted psychological well being as measured by the Life Satisfaction Index-A (LISA) but not psychological well-being as measured by the Mental Component Summary (MCS) of the SF-12. These results indicate that generative behaviors predict psychological-well being associated with successful aging, but not a more global measure of psychological well-being. Furthermore, the significance of the raw scores on the GNQ indicate that the quantity of generative behaviors are important to psychological well-being. Results of the path analysis testing McAdams and de St. Aubin's model of generativity provide partial support of the model indicating a significant path between generative concern and generative behaviors. |
