Joan E. Norris

Generativity and moral development as predictors of value-socialization narratives for young persons across the adult life span: from lessons learned to stories shared.

Little research so far has examined storytelling as a channel of value socialization. In the present study, 129 adults from 3 age groups (18-26, 28-50, 60-75) were asked to tell stories for adolescents about 2 of their past value-learning experiences. Generative concern (D. P. McAdams & E. de St. Aubin, 1992) and moral reasoning stage level were also assessed. Stronger generative concern was predictive of a greater sense of having learned important lessons from these past events, of stronger adult value socialization investment, and of more engaging narratives for adolescents as judged by a panel of uninstructed raters. Higher levels of moral reasoning were positively related to generative concern and to a stronger sense of past lessons learned. Generativity appears important to the project of value socialization across the adult life span.

Environmentalism as a Context for Expressing Identity and Generativity: Patterns Among Activists and Uninvolved Youth and Midlife Adults

Previous qualitative studies have identified themes of generativity and identity development in the interviews of environmental activists (Chan, 2009; Horwitz, 1996), suggesting their importance as motives for environmental behavior. The purpose of our study was to extend this work by identifying positive relationships between identity maturity, generativity, and environmentalism using quantitative methodologies. To explore these relationships, we designed quasi-experimental and correlational studies. We recruited 54 environmental activists and 56 comparison individuals, half of whom were youth (mean age = 22 years) and the other half midlife adults (mean age = 43 years). Sixty-three percent of our sample was female. Participants completed several environmental, generativity, and identity questionnaires. We found that activists and comparison individuals differed on the identity maturity, generativity, and environmental measures overall. Further, greater identity maturity and generativity were associated with higher environmental engagement. And generativity was found to mediate the relation between identity maturity and environmentalism. Our findings suggest that engaging in generative behaviors may be an important part of the process in forming an environmental identity and engaging in environmental actions.

The roles of adult daughters in long-term care facilities: Alternative role manifestations

Abstract Our understanding of the roles of family members within long-term care settings remains limited. Existing research conceptualizes the term “role” as a unidimensional concept and views the caregiving role as static. Employing a multidimensional conceptualization of roles, and guided by symbolic interactionism and the conceptual framework of the caregiving career, the purpose of this study was to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the roles of adult daughters in long-term care facilities from their perspectives. Specific techniques of the grounded theory approach combined with active interviews and personal logs were used as the research design procedures. Five caregiving role manifestations emerged in the womens stories: active monitors, regular visitors, accepting relinquishers, unaccepting relinquishers, and indirect supporters. Several factors explained differences in the role manifestations such as the focus of the support, perceptions of the psychological presence of the parent, and the sense of obligation and pressure to care.

You don't want to hurt his feelings...: family leisure as a context for intergenerational ambivalence.

Abstract Family leisure has been found to be both consensual and conflictual. Research on family leisure has focused mainly on heterosexual married couples with young children and has excluded the voices of older adults. Framed by the model of intergenerational ambivalence (Luscher & Pillemer, 1998), this interpretive study developed an understanding of the role of intergenerational ambivalence in the experience of intergenerational family leisure for grandparents and their adult grandchildren. Fourteen dyads of grandparents and adult grandchildren were interviewed individually and were asked to describe their experience of intergenerational family leisure. Using grounded theory methods, the interviews provided valuable insight into the role that intergenerational ambivalence plays in the experience of family leisure. We suggest that the intergenerational ambivalence model is a useful framework for the study of intergenerational family leisure.

The Facts on Aging Quiz: A Canadian Validation and Cross-Cultural Comparison

The “Facts on Aging Quiz” developed by Erdman Palmore has been extensively utilized as a brief, reliable, and easily administered test of factual knowledge on aging. This paper describes the applicability of the quiz in the Canadian context, and provides documentation for quiz items. Potential problems of misinterpretation of items relating to the rate of institutionalization and income levels, are noted. The paper also compares levels of knowledge and areas of misinformation among a sample ( n =585) of undergraduates, university faculty, and health care professionals. The usefulness of the quiz in identifying differences in knowledge levels, is confirmed.

Social Networks and Exchange Norms Across the Adult Life-Span *

Developmentally grounded research on norms for social exchange in adult relationships is equivocal, and rife with theoretical and methodological inconsistencies. We examined the applicability of three theoretical perspectives to specific relationships differing in self-perceived closeness in three groups of adults. Participants were first year ( n = 37, M Age = 19.1 years) and fourth year ( n = 42, M Age = 22.1 years) undergraduates, and retired teachers ( n = 42, M Age = 66.8 years). We find considerable similarity among the three age groups on exchange norms and reciprocity expectations, despite considerable differences in sources of supportive relationships. Results indicate greatest support for exchange based upon need over either equity or social exchange perspectives, with this being especially true for very close relationships. Older adults report relationships operating to a greater extent on expectations for long-term over short-term reciprocity than young adults. Findings highlight the importance of considering intra-individual variation in exchange norms and expectations for reciprocity.

Caring for the Earth: Generativity as a Mediator for the Prediction of Environmental Narratives from Identity Among Activists and Nonactivists

Although some earlier research has highlighted both the importance of generativity and feelings of a close personal connection with nature for environmental engagement, the role of these factors has not been studied in a narrative identity context. Thus, in this study, the interrelationships among narrative and questionnaire features of environmental identity and generative concern were evaluated using a mixed methods design. Features of environmental stories told by 54 environmental activists and a comparison sample of 56 nonactivists (aged 17 to 59 years) were examined in relation to standard self-report measures of environmental identity, behavior, and generativity. In addition to these quantitative measures, participants told five environmental narratives that were coded for vividness, meaning making, and impact on engagement. A summary index of these narrative codes distinguished the activists and was positively related to environmental and generative questionnaire measures. A situated environmental identity appeared to serve as a foundation for narrative engagement with the environment; however, results also highlighted generativity as a key mediating factor in this relationship across youth and midlife participants.

Earth mothers (and fathers): examining generativity and environmental concerns in adolescents and their parents

Erikson’s construct of generative concern for future generations seems a plausible structure for supporting environmental behavior and socialization in the family. The present study of 44 Canadian middle-class families with a focal child aged 14–16 years, examined variations in generative concern among parents and their children and tested how such variations were related to differences in environmental values and behaviors in the family, as measured by a number of standard and novel scales and self-reports. Results showed that adolescent generative concern on the Loyola Generativity Scale predicted positively adolescent environmental and prosocial behaviors and was, in turn, predicted by an authoritative parenting style and maternal generative concern. Furthermore, an emphasis on environmental-socialization values and practices by parents was associated positively with higher parent-generativity scores, and parents’ environmental actions and values, in turn, predicted adolescent behaviors. This study provides preliminary support for the role of generative concern in supporting environmental socialization in the family context.

What He Said to Me Stuck: Adolescents’ Narratives of Grandparents and Their Identity Development in Emerging Adulthood

Jim (age 21): “My Mom’s father – my grandfather. A very independent guy, but a very caring guy. They (grandparents) go down to Florida every winter. And our family often goes down to spend some time with them. My grandpa really loves swimming in the ocean. So he would go out floating on his back for hours at a time…When I was younger, I used to stand on the shore and watch him float out. He would disappear and come back and ask me if I wanted to go out. I did once and people were worried because I was only ten. My parents and my grandma were concerned, ‘Oh, he’s too small,’ even though I was with my grandpa. But what he said to me stuck. What he said was I need to know my own limits, my abilities. Other people are going to have their opinions and worries and concerns, but being independent is taking that stuff into consideration, but then also doing what you can.”

Justice and intergenerational relations: An introduction

Gerontologists have rarely considered the concept of social justice in their research. Instead, related but more specific questions about the social situation of the aged have been posed. This paper provides an overview of existing social psychological literature on justice and intergenerational relations as a context for the five other papers contained in this issue. The importance of intergenerational justice within the family, particularly when there is a caretaking relationship, is stressed. As well, the policy implications of a concern with intergenerational justice are considered. The Paper concludes with a recommendation that gerontology and social justice research be integrated more frequently in order to enrich both fields of study.