Generativity and Midlife Development

Generativity

• Definition: Drive to contribute beyond oneself, involving children, ideas, products, art.
• Associations: Linked with successful marriages, friendships, leadership, and effective child-rearing.
• Trends: Generativity increases in midlife across socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity; higher generativity correlates with better adjustment.

Stagnation

• Characteristics: Self-absorbed, indulgent, lacking involvement.

Evaluating Life

• Life Evaluation: Common during middle age; substantial individual differences.
• Turning Points: Mostly positive, leading to growth; regrets can influence well-being positively if corrective actions are taken.
• Midlife Crisis: Rare; characterized by self-doubt, reassessment, desire for change, and emotional instability. Causes include awareness of aging, unmet goals, and life transitions.

Possible Selves

• Concept: What one hopes to become or avoids; fewer, more modest with age.
• Role: Strong motivator in midlife, plays protective role in self-esteem.

Prime of Life

• Gains: Self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery.
• Trends: Increased life satisfaction, sense of fulfillment.

Coping

• Effective Strategies: Identifying positives, better planning, humor.
• Challenges: Not all experience positive changes; high suicide rates in midlife.

Personality

• Stable Traits: Include neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness.
• Big 5 Traits: Undergo mean-level change between ages 20-40; continue changing positively with age.

Relationships at Midlife

• Social Connections: Peak number of roles, financial stability.
• Marriage: Often well-off; satisfaction predicts psychological change.
• Divorce: Increasing in midlife; brings relief in distressed marriages.

Changing Parent-Child Relationships

• Parents "Launching" Children: Continued support, adjusting to in-laws.
• Grandparenthood: Begins in early fifties; role in family continuity, personal past.

Middle-aged Children and Aging Parents

• Caring for Parents: Stressful; especially for women. Risks include role overload, job absenteeism.

Siblings and Friendships

• Siblings: Contact declines but closeness can increase.
• Friendships: Fewer, more selective; gender trends continue.

Vocational Life and Job Satisfaction

• Career Development: Important for self-esteem; shifts from growth to security.
• Glass Ceiling: Challenges for women, BIPOC; some leave corporate roles.

Retirement

• Essentials: Financial planning, active life, leisure, and volunteer activities important for well-being.