| This study was conducted to examine the relationship between identity development and generativity. The sample is made up of archival data originally collected by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jacob Getzels in 1963 and continued by Stephen Kahn in 1981. Subjects were 236 sophomores and juniors from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago who agreed to participate in the original 1963 study and the later follow-up study in 1981. As part of the original study, students complete personality assessments including the 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire and the Eriksonian Identity Scale as well as a questionnaire that included questions on pro-social behaviors in the follow-up study. Using Erik Erikson's model of development, it was hypothesized that the earlier development of identity of the 1963 participants would be predictive of higher levels of generativity as indicated by pro-social behaviors during the follow-up study of 1981 when the participants are in mid-life. |
