Generativity, Care Giving, and Care Receiving in Aging Contexts

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is aimed at analyzing the motivations and experiences of both people who provide care to older persons, and the older person who is being cared for. It explores the role that generativity might play in both situations (for the care provider but also for the care receiver), and how generativity can contribute to better understanding of care relationships and offer psychological and developmental keys to the many challenges associated with care in aging contexts. In the case of people who offer care to older persons, generativity is underlined as a positive motive and outcome of the experience of care, often portrayed as a burden. In the case of older persons who receive care, the chapter discusses the crucial role of generativity in the experience of vulnerability, the key attitude of accepting care from others as a way to keep on contributing, and legacy as an expression of generativity in such situations.