title: Contributing to others, contributing to oneself: perceptions of generativity and health in later life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether perceptions of generativity predict the likelihood of increases in levels of impairment in activities of daily living (ADLs) or of dying over a 10-year period in older adults aged 60-75 from the Study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Perceptions of generativity and current generative contributions as well as select sociodemographic, health status, health behavior, and psychosocial factors, assessed at a baseline exam, were examined as predictors of change in ADL disability level or mortality over the 10-year period between the baseline and follow-up waves of the MIDUS Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater levels of generativity and generative contributions at baseline predicted lower odds of experiencing increases in ADL disability (2 or more new domains of impairment; generativity odds ratio [OR] = 0.93 and generative contributions OR = 0.87), or of dying (generativity OR = 0.94 and generative contributions OR = 0.88), over the 10-year follow-up in models adjusted for sociodemographics and baseline health and disability. Associations remained relatively unchanged with the inclusion of different sets of health behavior and psychosocial variables in analytic models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings indicate that greater perceptions of generativity are associated with more favorable trajectories of physical functioning and longevity over time in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA. tara.gruenewald@usc.edu
authors.forename: Tara L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Gruenewald
authors.forename: Diana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Teresa E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Seeman
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000533:Altruism; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States