Generativity and Stagnation in Adulthood

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this chapter is twofold. Firstly, it presents a conceptual review on stagnation and its relationship with generativity, proposing a distinction between different modalities of stagnation. Secondly, it provides narratives from middle-aged and older adults that allow the description of some feelings, beliefs, and thoughts characteristic of subjects who are unable (or who feel incapable) to care for and guide younger generations. The chapter emphasizes how the presence of ambivalent or conflictive bonds with parents, the incapability to develop basic trust in childhood, and the inability to care are frequent ingredients in narratives of people characterized as “stagnant.” Such narratives contrast sharply from the ones collected from highly generative people.