Does Developmental Generativity Predict Substance Use...

Does Developmental Generativity Predict Substance Use in Middle Aged Adults? Erikson’s (1968, 1980, 1982) psychosocial stages of development provide a framework for the different stages of development throughout the human lifespan. These stages of development begin at birth and continue until death, and separate the lifespan into eight stages based on chronological age. Within these eight different aging stages are corresponding psychosocial stages. Each of these psychosocial stages represent a conflict between two characteristics of development for that particular time period in a person’s life. The beginning stages of Erikson’s (1968, 1980, 1982) model focus almost entirely on the individual and the self, developing those personal characteristics and developing the idea of the self. It is not until middle adulthood that the psychosocial conflict changes perspective to reflect outside of the self. The seventh psychosocial stage is generativity versus stagnation, which takes place during the ages of 40 to 60. In this stage, the in dividual turns the focus outside of themselves and starts to focus on society, community, and the family. While a person can feel generative by having their own family and children, this is only a small part of being successfully generative. Generativity can roughly be described as connection between generations. This entails having a desire to contribute to the next generations, as well as creating and accomplishing things