Generativity and gendered pathways to health: The role of human, social, and financial capital past mid-life

Abstract

Generativity has recently received increasing attention as a key contributor to healthy aging. Personal resources and social expectations are shown to influence the desire to be generative and that generativity affects later-life health. However, whether generativity has a mediating role in linking its driving factors and health, and how gender may affect these pathways, is underexplored. Cross-sectional online data from 1085 Hong Kong residents aged 45+ were collected between November and December 2020. Latent variable path analysis was used to examine the mediating effect of generativity between human, social, and financial capital, and physical and mental well-being. Gendered pathways were investigated using multi-group analysis. Results showed that human, social, and financial capital contributed to better health through generativity, and gendered pathways were observed. Human capital had a stronger effect on generativity for men, but for women, social capital was vital for increased generativity and consequently improved health. Findings suggested that health benefits of generativity depend on different capital drivers and differ by gender. Implications for program development that aim to facilitate health should include generativity components that maximize physical and psychosocial engagement so that individuals can reap the health benefits through contributions to others.