The Role of Generativity

J Adult Dev (2008) 15:148–159 DOI 10.1007/s10804-008-9046-7

The Role of Generativity in Psychological Well-Being: Does it Differ for Childless Adults and Parents?
Tanja Rothrauff Æ Teresa M. Cooney

Published online: 11 October 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract Given that parenthood is considered a central adult status with developmental implications, and an increasing number of adults are childless, we assessed whether adult development is structured differently for parents and non-parents. This study’s main goal was to assess and compare the connection between generativity development—a key task of middle adulthood—and psychological well-being for childless adults (N = 289) and parents (N = 2,218), ages 35–74, using the 1995 MIDUS dataset. We also examined differences in these associations for women and men by parental status, because childlessness is often assumed to be more critical for females’ than males’ development. Structural equation modeling indicated a positive association between generativity and psychological well-being. Differences in this association for parents and childless adults were not evident, nor were there significant differences for childless women and mothers, and childless men and fathers. Implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords Childless adults Á Generativity Á Parents Á Psychological well-being

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2007 Annual Meetings of the National Council on Family Relations, Pittsburgh, PA. T. Rothrauff (&) Á T. M. Cooney Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Missouri, 314 Gentry Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA e-mail: [e-mail]

An increasing number of adults today have never experienced parenthood for a variety of reasons (e.g., by choice, infertility), resulting in greater life course diversity. In 1985, 11% of American women between the ages of 40 and 44 years did not have children; by 2004, the number of

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