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Abstract
In 1950 Erik Erikson posited a theory of an eight-stage life cycle, the longest stage of which was adulthood. Each stage, according to Erikson’s theory, is characterized by a dialectic tension between contending polarities of development. In adulthood the contending tension is between generativity, which he described as a care for the well-being of the next generation, and stagnation, a self-centeredness where one is concerned primarily with one’s own care. This study sought to consider, through a phenomenological methodology, the lived experience of generativity in adulthood within the complex framework of modernity, now 70 years later than Erikson’s theory was first postulated. The lived experience of seven adults, ranging in ages from 40 to 72, was considered through the analysis of phenomenological interviews, published memoirs, and direct observation. The findings of this study indicate that generativity can be viewed as an ongoing process across the adult lifespan involving recurring meaning making formed from expectations of young adulthood disrupted by the inevitable challenges of life resulting in self recollection and the finding of new purpose. Generativity reveals itself in this study as not merely an agentic process of caring for the next generation, though the findings revealed that such a concern was a significant aspect of it, but also an intrapersonal process of meaning making, likened here to the nourishing of the roots of the tree of one’s life and resulting in the creation of new branches which are, as Erikson indicated, the source of care for future generations.