Generativity may be conceived in terms of 7 interrelated features: cultural demand, inner desire, generative concern, belief in the species, commitment, generative action, and personal narration. Two studies describe the development and use of 3 assessment strategies designed to tap into the generativity features of concern, action, and narration. A self-report scale of generative concernthe Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS)-exhibited good internal consistency and retest reliability and showed strong positive associations with reports of actual generative acts (e.g., teaching a skill) and themes of generativity in narrative accounts of important autobiographical episodes. In 1 sample of adults between the ages of 19 and 68, LGS scores of fathers were higher than those of men who had never had children.

Generativity is conceived as a configuration of psychosocial features constellated around the goal of providing for the next generation. This study used a stratified random sampling of young (ages 22-27), midlife (ages 37-42), and older (ages 67-72) adults to examine age-cohort differences in 4 generativity features: generative concern, commitments, actions, and narration. Although prevailing views on generativity (e.g., Erikson, 1963) predict a peak in midlife and decline thereafter, support for this developmental hypothesis was mixed. Midlife Ss scored higher than young and older Ss on concern and actions in a second administration of measures, but not in the first. Generative commitments and narration showed high scores for both midlife and older Ss and relatively low scores for young Ss. Generative concern, assessed with the Loyola Generativity Scale, was positively associated with life satisfaction.

In this study, the authors analyzed the internalized life stories of 40 highly generative and 30 less generative adults with similar demographic profiles to discern the extent to which the 2 groups constructed different identities. The highly generative adults were more likely to reconstruct the past and anticipate the future as variations on a prototypical commitment story in which the protagonist (a) enjoys an early family blessing or advantage, (b) is sensitized to others' suffering at an early age, (c) is guided by a clear and compelling personal ideology that remains stable over time, (d) transforms or redeems bad scenes into good outcomes, and (e) sets goals for the future to benefit society. Commitment stories sustain and reinforce the modern adult's efforts to contribute in positive ways to the next generation. The findings connect to a growing interdisciplinary literature on narrative and human lives and suggest a new research agenda that draws on nomothetic conventions to interpret storied psychosocial constructions that people fashion to make sense of their lives in time and in culture.A number of theorists in psychology and sociology have recently observed that contemporary American adults make sense of their sometimes scattered lives by fashioning and internalizing stories that integrate their reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future (e.g.

The perceived loss of physical abilities and the generation of meaning and purpose in life are important variables that relate to positive adaptation following spinal cord injury. Treatment implications related to factors that increase quality of life following spinal cord injury are discussed.

Personal ideology is an individual's philosophy of how life should be and of what forces influence human living. In this study S.S. Tomkins's (1963b, 1965, 1978, 1987) polarity theory of ideology was used to examine the manifestation of personal ideology in 4 value-laden domains of personality. Tomkins's theoretical postulates concerning the emotional foundation of personal ideology also were tested. Analyses revealed that the 2 defining dimensions of polarity theory--humanism and normativism--are related in the predicted meaningful ways to value systems, assumptions concerning human nature, religiosity, and political orientation. Evidence also was found for Tomkins's contention that specific affect clusters serve as the foundation of personal ideology. Participants who scored high in humanism ideology related autobiographical memories containing the emotion cluster of joy, distress, fear, and shame, whereas the memories of participants with normative ideologies contained relatively more anger.