Intergenerational Familial Relationships from the Lens of Generativity

Abstract

Over the past few decades, increase in life expectancy has facilitated longevity of family members but decreasing fertility rates have reduced the number of members to support each other, thereby giving birth to more complex family structures. This change in inter-personal dynamics has instigated major scientific attention towards its possible implication on various facets of intergenerational relationships and family life. Although the Theory of Intergenerational Solidarity and Theory of Ambivalence, have been by far the most widely utilized theoretical contributions, borrowed from social sciences, for conceptualization of this interpersonal exchange, however, they do not essentially cover all the underlying dynamics and therefore it is argued that still a need exists for theoretical guidance and further consolidation of the discipline, specially from the psychological and developmental perspective. With this respect, in the present article, the usefulness of the concept of generativity, from Erikson's theory of life span development, is reviewed and its contributions, limitations and prospects for understanding intergenerational relationships have been explored.