Development across the Life Span 345a fear of real intimacy. For example, many marriages end in divorce within a few years,
with one partner leaving the relationship—and even the responsibilities of parenting—
to explore personal concerns and those unfinished issues of identity.
ERIKSON’S GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION: PARENTING In middle adulthood,
persons who have found intimacy can now turn their focus outward, toward others.
Erikson saw this as parenting the next generation and helping them through their cri-
ses, a process he called generativity. Educators, supervisors, health-care professionals,
doctors, and community volunteers might be examples of positions that allow a person
to be generative.
Other ways of being generative include engaging in careers or some major life
work that can become one’s legacy to the generations to come. Those who are unable to
focus outward and are still dealing with issues of intimacy or even identity are said to be
stagnated. People who frequently hand the care of their children over to grandparents or
other relatives so that they can go out and “have fun” may be unable to focus on anyone
else’s needs but their own.
What kind of parent is the best parent—one who’s really strict or
one who’s pretty easygoing?Parenting children is a very important part of most people’s middle adulthood. Diana
Baumrind (1967) outlined three basic styles of parenting, each of which may be related to
certain personality traits in the child raised by that style of parenting. The video Parenting
Styles describes each of these parenting styles in more detail and explains why goodness of
fit, or matching the parenting style to the child’s needs, may be most important.
Authoritarian parenting tends to be overly concerned with rules. This type of
parent is stern, rigid, controlling, and uncompromising,* demands perfection, and has
a tendency to use physical punishment. Children raised in this way are often insecure,
*uncompromising: not making or accepting any viewpoint other than one’s own, allowing no
other viewpoints.
generativity
Rroviding guidance to oneos children or
the neZt generation or contriDuting to
the well-Deing of the neZt generation
through career or volunteer worM.authoritarian parenting
style of Rarenting in which Rarent is
rigid and overly strict showing little
warmth to the child.CCWatch the Video Parenting Styles