Successful ageing and development: the contribution of generativity in older age

Abstract

This paper examines the contributions that generativity in older age may make to the concept of successful ageing. To this end, two perspectives on successful ageing are described: successful ageing as a set of clinical criteria, and successful ageing as the application of adaptive processes aimed at achieving efficient functioning. After showing the limitations of the first perspective, particularly from a developmental point of view, the paper argues that the adaptive version of successful ageing helps to putageingintoadevelopmentalframe,butneedstobecomplementedbyidentifying specific content and goals that guide these adaptive processes and establish new feasible gains for older people. Generativity in older age could play that role and providesaconceptual frameworkthatenrichestheconceptofsuccessfulageing,both by emphasising the social contextin which people age and by highlighting a personal growth component.