The Culture of Generativity: Exploring the Manifestation of Generativity in the Manifestation of Generativity in the Mexican/Mexican-American Population

Abstract

Generativity is a developmental stage in adulthood where an individual makes a conscious decision to leave their mark on the world with the intent to make the world a better place for future generations. Research has shown that engaging in generativite acts benefits both the person engaging in such practices as well as the recipient, and thus generativity is positively correlated with reported wellbeing. It has also been shown that adults engaging in such practices are psychologically healthier and ease into old age with less resistance than their non-generative counterparts. Generativity is a strengths-based approach. It is shaped by one's cultural values and beliefs and also serves as a window into one's particular culture. Through the use of quantitative and qualitative measures of generativity, researchers are able to get a snap shot of individual differences in generativity as well as better understanding how it is manifested in one's own cultural group. However, the majority of generativity measures, are normed on Caucasian individuals of Western held beliefs and traditions. As the values and traditions of this group are very different from those held by other cultures, the necessity to create culturally specific measures of generativity is imperative. This project focuses on a sample population of Mexican/ Mexican Americans living within Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first goal of the project was to create a culturally specific qualitative measure, The Mexican Measure of Self-Narrative Generativity (MMSNG) to uncover generative themes and behaviors unique to this population. The second goal was to then compare this new measure, to existing measures of generativity, The Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS) and the Generative Behavior Checklist (GBC) in order to determine which measure is most correlated and which is the best predictor of participants report of their own Satisfaction With Life (SWLS). Results indicated that the GBC was the only variable significantly correlated and predictive of Satisfaction of Life. Although the MMSNG was not significantly correlated with Satisfaction with Life, the measure itself gives much information about the unique practices and beliefs of the sampled population that they deemed to be generative practices within their own culture.

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