GENERATIVITY AND AUTHORITARIANISM - IMPLICATIONS FOR PERSONALITY, POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT, AND PARENTING

Generativity (Erikson, 1950) and authoritarianism have recently receiv ed increased attention in the personality and social psychology litera ture. The authors articulate connections and distinctions to test hypo theses concerning personality, politics, and parenting on a sample of adults and their adolescent children. The Big 5 Openness to Experience factor was positively related to generativity and negatively related to authoritarianism. In addition, high scorers on generativity were in terested in political issues, whereas those scoring high on authoritar ianism were not. High scorers on authoritarianism also used a punitive parenting style that had adverse consequences for parent-child relati onships, whereas generative parents used an authoritative style that p roduced positive outcomes. Although generative and authoritarian indiv iduals may share a focus on passing down traditions, the content of th ose traditions seems to span a wider range for people who are high in generativity.