Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development describes the seventh stage as the generativity vs. stagnation period. It will occur between ages 40 and 65, during middle adulthood. At this stage, people will carry out activities that contribute to society, parent children, and foster positive transformative changes that benefit others. Participating in activities that promote future generations and questioning the significant contributions to the world, with the best answer being care, are some of the characteristics individuals will exhibit then. Significant events at this stage will include parenthood and work (Burley et al., 2020).
Generativity, in psychological terms, means making a mark in the world. At this stage, individuals develop a sense of being in the bigger picture (Nantais & Stack, 2020). Work productivity, raising children, and being part of community activities will be significant accomplishments. Success in these activities will result in feelings of major usefulness, achievements, and accomplishments. Failure will likely evoke shallow involvement in the world. Stagnation would be caused by failure to find means of being productive. Individuals who fail at this stage will feel unproductive, disconnected, and uninvolved with society. Care virtue will result from success in this stage (Maree, 2022).
The generativity versus stagnation stage will occur right after the intimacy versus isolation stage. It is the early adulthood stage between 18 to 40 years of age. Major conflicts will occur here as individuals try to form intimate relationships that lead to long-term commitments with someone other than a family member. Love, intimacy, and compassion will be the main characteristics of individuals during this stage. A successful individual in this stage will exhibit commitment, safety, care, and compassion in a relationship, even in the following stages. It results in the virtue of love. Isolation results from individuals’ failure to form successful bonding with others. Loneliness and depression accompany this failure making an individual lose long-term beneficial companionship with someone other than a family member.
It will take effort and commitment in the intimacy versus isolation stage to get a good companion, build a long-lasting relationship and form a family. It will be approximately between 2055 and 2065 when I will attain the age of 55. In the coming years, people will be more connected, and the world will become a more miniature village than it is now. People will form more intimate relationships with others from diverse and different backgrounds. Challenges such as gender-based violence, sexual abuse, murders, and crime will be minimal. The world will be eco-friendlier and organic.
Other changes at that time will be unlimited access to basic social amenities and clean, affordable energy sources. Education will be widespread as people seek skills and knowledge to solve emerging issues. Learning new cultures and languages as people integrate and interact will also be necessary. Green technologies will overtake environmentally harmful technologies, with more electric cars and machines being in use in the future. Unfortunately, more jobs will be lost due to machines and artificially intelligent mechanisms for carrying out tasks. Many individuals will adapt to this by getting creative and innovative. Others will get involved in technical jobs that involve less AI or machine operations to thrive.
The life course perspective holds that aging is a “lifelong experience that is multi-faceted and shaped by the contexts in which individuals live” (Moody & Sasser, 2015, p. 2). The generativity versus stagnation stage is more expressed in middle-aged and older adults than younger adults. Pressure and the intent to create something that outlives oneself and as a gift to the next generation is a major issue people will face at this stage. The success of this intent will be demonstrated as the goodness that is evident in humanity. People will be more interested in developing an enterprise that will benefit society. It will help create their identity as a person and a caring parent to the children. It will be evident in practices such as saving money for fees to pay for the children’s education.
Leaving a legacy will be a major concern at this stage. According to Schoklitsch & Bauman, people at this stage continue to accomplish productive tasks in their later lives (Schoklitsch & Bauman, 2012). All these tasks are intended to leave a mark on society. Physical and emotional well-being can be predicted in this stage. Positive emotions, satisfaction with work, and good health are achievements evident in generativity.
A universal assumption is that people in this stage encounter predictable age-related crises. However, these crises are followed by relative stability and change periods, as adulthood is characterized by alternating stability and change periods. The midlife crisis will occur at this stage resulting in major changes in how individuals view themselves. Realities of mortality and aging are faced with a hard internal look (Giuntella et al., 2023). Hopes and motives to better understand an individual will often result in internal struggles like stress and depression.
Midlife crisis changes are, however, not age dependent. They result from cognitive changes that make individuals demonstrate a complex understanding of self, emotions, and motivations at this stage. Generativity versus Stagnation, Erik Erikson’s seventh stage of psychosocial development, is believed by some psychologists and gerontologists to be the central struggle of adulthood (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015). Achieving a promising career and a stable family relationship will help address this developmental challenge by 55. Imagining life at 55 has evoked many questions about how my personality will develop and how life will turn out for me as an individual.
Burley, C., Lashley, L. K., & Golden, C. J. (2020). Generativity. https://www.assessmentpsychologyboard.org/edp/pdf/Midlife_Stress.pdf
Cavanaugh, J. C. & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2015). Adult development and aging (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Giuntella, O., McManus, S., Mujcic, R., Oswald, A. J., Powdthavee, N., & Tohamy, A. (2023). The midlife crisis. Economica, 90(357), 65-110.
Maree, J. G. (2022). The psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson: critical overview. The Influence of Theorists and Pioneers on Early Childhood Education, 119-133.
Moody, H. R. & Sasser, J. R. (2015). Aging: Concepts and controversies (8th ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.
Nantais, C., & Stack, M. (2020). Generativity versus stagnation. Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, 1773-1775.