RESEARCH_FILE
George E. Vaillant
Harvard Medical School / Harvard Study of Adult Development
Known for:Decades-long follow-up of the Harvard Grant Study, linking generativity achieved in midlife to health and adjustment in old age
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I should have done this twenty years ago — now it's pointless”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“The years are gone either way; I can still choose what the next ones hold.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Set a 6-minute timer and gather only the materials for one delayed thing you keep dismissing—no starting, no finishing. When the timer ends, write one sentence about what felt different from "pointless."
Key findings
- 2002
Across the Study of Adult Development's cohorts, individual lifestyle and character-based choices in midlife — including achieving generativity — predicted happiness and health in old age more than genetics, wealth or race. Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life ↗
- 2012
Drawing on more than 70 years of data, achieving generativity in midlife — not the presence or absence of a dramatic 'crisis' — predicted better psychosocial health and adjustment decades later. Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study ↗
- 2014
Among men who faced an adverse childhood, achieving generativity in midlife mediated and moderated better adjustment to aging — generativity mattered most for those who had the hardest start. Childhood Adversity, Midlife Generativity, and Later Life Well-Being ↗