Investigating the creative potential of young adults who practiced leisure activities during adolescence

Details

Supervisors

Barbot, Baptiste

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Creativity is a highly sought-after human skill, an essential asset better mastered by humans than machines, contributing to organisational performance, adaptability, survival (Anderson & al., 2018), innovation, and progress (Forgeard & Eichner, 2014; Puccio & Cabra, 2011). The good news is that creativity can be taught, developed, and nurtured (Barbot et al., 2015; Ivcevic, 2020; Sternberg, 2019; Stevenson et al., 2014). However, educational settings are more likely to repress creativity than encourage it (Barbot & Heuser, 2017). Adolescence, age of reorganisation and alignment of resources, is considered as a critical period in the development of creative potential (Barbot, 2008; Barbot et al., 2016; Barbot & Heuser, 2017; Blakemore, 2012). Earlier studies have highlighted the relationship between several leisure activities and creative performance (Mareque et al., 2019), but although effects could be demonstrated on the short term, the question still remains partially open as to the sustainability of its effects on the long term. This quantitative study is based on data collected in a research by Barbot et al., (2021) at Pace University among young adults (n = 129). Creativity being a multifaceted concept, several measures of creativity dimensions (divergent thinking, mental flexibility, associative thinking and narrative creativity) were used for the sake of this research. Various hypotheses have been tested, general and more specific, such as the effects of art, sport and variety. We also investigated the impact of the duration and number of activities. Our findings pointed out that scores obtained by young adults who practiced two or more forms of leisure activities for more than 3 months during adolescence, were higher than scores of those who practiced none or one activity specifically for creative writing (z = -2.070, p = .019, d = 3.405), DT flexibility (t[125] = -2.187, p = .015, d = 0.389), DT fluency (z = -3.666, p < .001, d = 3.415), associative thinking RAT (z = -2.241, p = .013, d = 3.421), and associative thinking OV (z = -2.436, p = .008, d = 3.378). The duration of the practice of sport also emerged as a factor contributing to higher scores in DT flexibility (z = -2.511, p = .018, d = 3.540) and associative thinking RAT (z = -2.333, p = .030, d = 3.437), though a practice duration of at least 10 years seems to be required. This research was based on a sample presenting several limitations: the unequal distribution of participation duration and numbers of activity, the absence of information on the intensity and frequency of the practiced activities, and the generally small size of the control group. However, given the promising results, this investigation raises a path for future research that would integrate these missing dimensions.