The relationship between midlife women's generativity and life events
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Traditional and Nontraditional women's (from two birth cohorts) life events and their patterns of generativity over time. Generativity, or the capacity to care was proposed by stage theorist Erik Erikson (1963) as a quality of adult character which develops across the life course, culminating at mid-life. However, the results of previous research studies indicate multiple patterns for experiencing generativity across the mid-life years. In the present study, Life-span Development and Feminist Theories were utilized as "lenses" for understanding the significance of the timing of life events and the complexity of women's public and private lives. The results of repeated measures ANOVA/MANOVA indicated that the women did not experience within- or between-group changes over time in their generativity scores. However, when considered individually, the women did exhibit a wide variety of generativity patterns across the three times of measurement. Results of the logistic regression analyses suggested that the amount of Upsettingness and Adjustment associated with life events was related to changes in generativity.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Targ, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Womens studies|Developmental psychology
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