The Baltimore Experience Corps Trial: Enhancing Generativity via Intergenerational Activity Engagement in Later Life

• Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Vol. 71; no. 4; pp. 661 - 670
• Main Authors: Gruenewald, Tara L, Tanner, Elizabeth K, Fried, Linda P, Carlson, Michelle C, Xue, Qian-Li, Parisi, Jeanine M, Rebok, George W, Yarnell, Lisa M, Seeman, Teresa E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01-07-2016
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adults; Aged; Behavior modification; Citizen participation; Community-Based Participatory Research - organization & administration; Developmental psychology; Female; Focus Groups; Generativity; Geriatric psychology; Health Promotion - organization & administration; Health Status; Humans; Intergenerational relationships; Intervention; Male; Mental health; Midlife; Older people; Original Research Report; Perceptions; Quantitative psychology; Retirement - psychology; Self Concept; Self evaluation; Volunteers; Volunteers - psychology; United States > US; Baltimore Maryland; Generativity; Intergenerational; Volunteerism; Civic engagement; Randomized controlled trial; Social engagement
• ISSN: 1079-5014; 1758-5368; 1758-5368
• DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbv005

Being and feeling generative, defined as exhibiting concern and behavior to benefit others, is an important developmental goal of midlife and beyond. Although a growing body of evidence suggests mental and physical health benefits of feeling generative in later life, little information exists as to the modifiability of generativity perceptions. The present study examines whether participation in the intergenerational civic engagement program, Experience Corps (EC), benefits older adults' self-perceptions of generativity.
Levels of generativity were compared in older adults randomized to serve as EC volunteers or controls (usual volunteer opportunities) in the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial at 4-, 12-, and 24-month evaluation points over the 2-year trial. Analyses utilized intention-to-treat and complier average causal effects (CACE) analyses which incorporate degree of intervention exposure in analytic models.
Participants randomized to the EC group had significantly higher levels of generative desire and perceptions of generative achievement than controls at each follow-up point; CACE analyses indicate a dose-response effect with a greater magnitude of intervention effect with greater exposure to the EC program.
Results provide the first-ever, large-scale experimental demonstration that participation in an intergenerational civic engagement program can positively alter self-perceptions of generativity in older adulthood.