Older adults often contemplate the kind of legacy they would like to leave for subsequent generations. Research provides some evidence for relationships between expressions of intended legacies and generativity (caring for the next generation), and how generativity is related to well-being. The current study aims to expand the literature concerning the role of generativity and its counterpart, stagnation, in the likelihood and frequency of expressions of intended legacies (what individuals wish to leave behind when they die), and to parse each factor’s relationship to well-being among older women. Data were drawn from the combined 2014 data collections from the Radcliffe College Class of 1964 and the Women’s Life Paths Study (N = 204; M_age = 68.93). We used newly developed Q-sort measures of generativity and stagnation, and coded legacy from responses to open-ended questions. This study assessed three types of legacy: one that is meaningful in a personal way (personal), a contribution to the common good (broader), and a combination of personal and broader (composite). Although both generativity and stagnation showed some initial association with personal and total legacy, only stagnation was consistently negatively associated with the likelihood of expressing a legacy, frequency of legacy expression, and well-being. The contribution of psychosocial factors to legacy expression, and the utility of examining generativity and stagnation separately, is discussed.

中文翻译：

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面向未来：生殖，停滞，预期的遗产和晚年的幸福

老年人通常会考虑留给后代的遗产。研究为预期遗产的表达和生殖能力（关怀下一代）之间的关系以及生殖能力与幸福感之间的关系提供了一些证据。当前的研究旨在扩展有关成因及其对应物停滞在预期遗产表达的可能性和频率（个人死后希望留下的东西）中的作用的文献，并分析每种因素与健康的关系。在老年妇女中。数据从拉德克利夫学院类1964和妇女生活道路研究（合并的2014数据收集绘制Ñ  = 204;中号_年龄 = 68.93）。我们使用了新近开发的关于生成和停滞的Q-sort量度，并编码了对开放式问题的回答中的遗留物。这项研究评估了三种遗产类型：一种以个人方式有意义（个人），对共同利益的贡献（更广泛）以及个人和更广泛的结合（综合）。尽管生成和停滞都显示出与个人遗产和全部遗产之间的某种初始关联，但只有停滞与表达遗产的可能性，遗产表达的频率和幸福感始终呈负相关。讨论了社会心理因素对传统表达的贡献，以及分别检查生成和停滞的实用性。