How does inquisitiveness matter for generativity and happiness?

Abstract

Inquisitiveness (curiosity & acceptance to something and someone different) is the main engine for one person to initiate some relation, and the literature has established that maintaining nice relationships with friends, family and general others contributes to generativity and happiness. However, little is known about how generativity and happiness are characterized by inquisitiveness. We hypothesize that inquisitiveness is a fundamental determinant for generativity and happiness, empirically examining the relationships along with cognitive, noncognitive and sociodemographic factors. We conduct questionnaire surveys with 400 Japanese subjects, applying quantile regression and structural equation modeling to the data. First, the analysis identifies the importance of inquisitiveness in characterizing generativity in that people with high inquisitiveness tend to be generative. Second, people are identified to be happy as they have high generativity and inquisitiveness, demonstrating two influential roles of inquisitiveness as direct and indirect determinants through a mediator of generativity. Overall, the results suggest that inquisitiveness shall be a key element of people’s happiness through intergenerational and intragenerational communications or relations.

How do question-answer exchanges among generations matter for children’s happiness?

“…Second, GCS-R has a positive effect on the participants' SH at 1% significance only in model 1. Previous studies with adults find the effect of generativity on subjective happiness statistically significant in a robust manner [11,49,70], while this study with children finds the effect statistically insignificant, except for model 1. Areas exhibit 1% and 5% statistical significance with a negative sign in models 1 to 4, implying that the urban participants tend to decrease their SH by −0.834 * −0.698, as compared with the non-urban participants.…”

“…The maximum possible range is between 10 and 50 and is calculated as the sum of the scores on the inquisitiveness questions. This subscale reliably measures the influence of people's behaviors and attitudes in many vital contexts [70,85].…”

“…They find inquisitiveness as essential for reaching a conclusion that is not bounded by individuals' beliefs. Hirose and Kotani [70] also demonstrate that inquisitiveness positively correlates with how people enhance their generative concern and happiness by conducting questionnaires with 400 Japanese. Overall, inquisitiveness is an engine of increasing the motivation and behaviors in some situations, triggering communications with others and interactions with unfamiliar environments [59,[71][72][73].…”

Perceptions of older adults and generativity among older citizens in Japan: a descriptive cross-sectional study

“…Finally, the coefficients of determination in our multiple regression analyses were relatively small. Prior research has identified agentic and communal goal attainment [ 23 ] and psychological well-being [ 17 , 24 ] as being strongly associated with generativity. Therefore, it is necessary to reevaluate our findings after controlling for these variables.…”

Untitled

“…They find inquisitiveness as essential for reaching a conclusion that is not bounded by individuals' beliefs. Hirose and Kotani [70] also demonstrate that inquisitiveness positively correlates with how people enhance their generative concern and happiness by conducting questionnaires with 400 Japanese. Overall, inquisitiveness is an engine of increasing the motivation and behaviors in some situations, triggering communications with others and interactions with unfamiliar environments [59,[71][72][73].…”