title: The Baltimore Experience Corps Trial: Enhancing Generativity via Intergenerational Activity Engagement in Later Life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Being and feeling generative, defined as exhibiting concern and behavior to benefit others, is an important developmental goal of midlife and beyond. Although a growing body of evidence suggests mental and physical health benefits of feeling generative in later life, little information exists as to the modifiability of generativity perceptions. The present study examines whether participation in the intergenerational civic engagement program, Experience Corps (EC), benefits older adults' self-perceptions of generativity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Levels of generativity were compared in older adults randomized to serve as EC volunteers or controls (usual volunteer opportunities) in the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial at 4-, 12-, and 24-month evaluation points over the 2-year trial. Analyses utilized intention-to-treat and complier average causal effects (CACE) analyses which incorporate degree of intervention exposure in analytic models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants randomized to the EC group had significantly higher levels of generative desire and perceptions of generative achievement than controls at each follow-up point; CACE analyses indicate a dose-response effect with a greater magnitude of intervention effect with greater exposure to the EC program.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results provide the first-ever, large-scale experimental demonstration that participation in an intergenerational civic engagement program can positively alter self-perceptions of generativity in older adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Tara.Gruenewald@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Tara L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Gruenewald
authors.affiliation: Department of Community-Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Elizabeth K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.affiliation: Departments of Mental Health and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Michelle C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Qian-Li
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Jeanine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Rebok
authors.affiliation: American Institutes for Research, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Yarnell
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Teresa E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Seeman
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012179:Retirement / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Civic engagement; Generativity; Intergenerational; Randomized controlled trial; Social engagement; Volunteerism