In Erikson's life-stage model, generativity is the crucial issue of human development in midlife. In his view, once the individual has consolidated his or her personal identity and established lasting bonds of intimacy through marriage and / or friendships, he or she is ready to commit to the larger social world, worrying about its continuity and improvement. That is, the feeling of generativity leads the subject to care, teach, lead and promote the welfare of the next generation.
Generativity usually increases in middle age and is a process that links the individual's desire for symbolic immortality with the cultural demand for concern for future generations. This concern, reinforced by the belief in the goodness or validity of the human enterprise, will lead the subject to generative actions in search of building a legacy for posterity.
