Developmental trajectories of creativity during early adolescence in a Japanese sample: Links to perceived parental autonomy support and psychological control

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the developmental trajectories of creativity during early adolescence and identify parental factors that predict the differences between these developmental trajectories. We examined the development of creativity in early adolescence using a group-based trajectory modeling. Data were collected from seventh-grade Japanese junior high school students. In this prospective longitudinal study, participants’ creativity was assessed using the verbal Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking at three time points (every six months). They also reported on perceived parental autonomy support and psychological control at the first phase of the study. Results of the analysis (N = 331) suggested that the developmental trajectories of creativity during early adolescence could be classified into three groups: low, moderate, and high. In addition, multinomial regression analyses (N = 293) showed that adolescents with higher perceived autonomy support or lower perceived psychological control were more likely to be grouped into the moderate-creativity group compared to the low-creativity group. These findings provide insights into the relationship between creativity in early adolescence and parental attitudes from the perspective of heterogeneous developmental trajectories.