Extending the Framework of Generativity Theory Through Research: A Qualitative Study.
OBJECTIVE
Based on ethnographic interviews, we discuss three ideas we believe will expand knowledge of older informants' thoughts about and representations of generativity. We adapt the notion of "dividuality" as developed in cultural anthropology to reframe ideas on generativity. The term dividuality refers to a condition of interpersonal or intergenerational connectedness, as distinct from individuality. We also extend previous definitions of generativity by identifying both objects of generative action and temporal and relational frameworks for generative action.


METHODS
We define 4 foci of generativity (people, groups, things, and activities) and 4 spheres of generativity (historical, familial, individual, and relational) based in American culture and with which older informants could easily identify. The approach outlined here also discusses a form of generativity oriented to the past in which relationships with persons in senior generations form a kind of generative action since they are involved in caring for the origins of the self and hence of future generative acts. These 3 elements of a new framework will allow researchers to pose critical questions about generativity among older adults. Such questions include (a) How is the self, as culturally constituted, involved in generative action? and (b) What are the types of generativity within the context of American culture and how are they spoken about? Each of the above points is directly addressed in the data we present below.


METHODS
We defined these domains through extended ethnographic interviews with 200 older women.


CONCLUSIONS
The article addresses some new ways of thinking about generativity as a construct, which may be useful in understanding the cultural personhood of older Americans.
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) . rrubinst@umbc.edu.
Robert L
RL
Rubinstein
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) .
Laura M
LM
Girling
Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Kate
K
de Medeiros
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) .
Michael
M
Brazda
Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
Susan
S
Hannum
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D036301:Qualitative Research
Anthropology; Culture; Generativity theory