Polish Psychological Bulletin

Abstract

According to Erik H. Erikson parental committal to children's development is one of the most important developmental task in the medium adulthood. In this stage society requires the person to play the role of a productive and contributing member of society. On the other hand variety of changes in adolescence and their peculiar cause that relationship between parents and adolescents is problematical, so parents' generativity is a potential that has a positive impact on the progress of the child's ontogenetic changes. It is also a manifestation of correctly progressing development of adults. Specific actions undertaken by parents, revealing their generativity, are related with showing interests, emotional and cognitive support of a child, accepting his increasing independence and offering help in new, difficult situations associated with physiological puberty and social maturation. Seeking methods supporting the development of adolescent children, adequate to their developmental needs, evokes developmental potential of parents. Taking into consideration the dual aspect underlying the generative activity, the following dimensions of parental generativity revealed towards adolescent children have been determined: interest, active help, consent and sense of creativity. The article shall present an original take on parental generativity and the process of constructing the Parental Generativity Scale.