RESUMO
Generativity, or providing for the next generation (Erikson, 1950), is usually associated with midlife, and related to parenting. However, the extent to which grandparenting or non-parenting are associated with generativity, especially within the context of race, is less well known. The current study uses narrative data from the Foley Longitudinal Study of Adulthood (FLSA; N = 150) to examine the relationship between generativity and parent status--parents, grandparents, as well as non-parents--in midlife African Americans and Whites. Responses to questions concerning future plans in Life Story narratives were coded for four subtypes of generative expression: general generativity, productive generativity, generative caring, and generative need to be needed; these subtypes of generativity were associated with parent status in different ways for middle-aged men and women of each race group. The findings highlight the importance of context, providing a glimpse of expressions of generativity at the intersection of parent status and race.