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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Successful ageing and development
— the contribution of generativity in older age | | Author(s) | Feliciano Villar |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 32, part 7, October 2012 |
| Pages | pp 1087-1105 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Ageing process ; Well being ; Life span ; Parents ; Children [offspring] ; Family relationships ; Theory. |
| Annotation | Generativity, a term coined by psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, can be defined as the concern to nurture, guide and ensure the wellbeing of future generations and ultimately, to leave a lasting legacy. This paper examines the contributions that generativity in older age may make to the concept of successful ageing. To this end, two perspectives on successful ageing are described: successful ageing as a set of clinical criteria (Rowe and Kahn, 1987), and successful ageing as the application of adaptive processes aimed at achieving efficient functioning. After showing the limitations of the first perspective, particularly from a developmental point of view, the paper argues that the adaptive version of successful ageing helps to put ageing into a developmental frame, but needs to be complemented by identifying specific content and goals that guide these adaptive processes and establish new feasible gains for older people. Generativity in older age (based on Erikson's theories) could play that role and provides a conceptual framework that enriches the concept of successful ageing, both by emphasising the social context in which people age and by highlighting a personal growth component. In particular Dan McAdams is cited as possibly the most influential author in the recovery of generativity as a concept for studying personal and social development. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-121002001 A |
| Classmark | BG: D:F:5HH: BG6: SR: SS: DS:SJ: 4D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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