title: Chronic Illness and Generativity in Late Life: A Case Study.
abstract: This article presents a narrative-based case study about chronic illness and genetic uncertainty and their relationship to generativity throughout the life course. Our focus is a woman who experienced vision loss early in life and interpreted its impact on her generativity through present-day biographical rescripting.
  
  
  
  The case we present was chosen from the study "Generativity and Lifestyles of Older Women," which explored life history, social relations, and forms of generativity in an ethnographic interview format with 200 older women.
  
  
  
  In constructing a present-day identity, the informant used shifting and conflicted self-constructions to produce a self-image as generative. Three critical themes emerged in understanding her life course: (a) retrospective interpretations of autonomy; (b) renegotiating control in the present, and (c) generativity across the life course.
  
  
  
  This article contributes an understanding of childlessness as observed through the lenses of chronic illness, autonomy, and generativity. We conclude that a history of chronic illness, as it is co-occurring with internal debates about the meaning of key life events, may influence older adults' present-day identity. Implications for later life care needs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Training Fellowship, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hannum
authors.affiliation: Center for Aging Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Helen K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Black
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rubinstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Medeiros
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D033262:Narration; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D043762:Reproductive Behavior; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: Autonomy; Childlessness; Chronic illness; Generativity; Narrative; Older women