A 4-Year Longitudinal Study of the Sex-Creativity Relationship in Childhood, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood: Findings of Mean and Variability Analyses.

Wu-Jing He

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02331

Abstract

The relationship between sex and creativity remains an unresolved research question. The present study aimed to approach this question through the lens of the developmental theory of sex differences in intelligence, which posits a dynamic pattern of sex differences in intellectual abilities from female superiority in childhood and early adolescence to male superiority starting at 16 years of age. A total of 775 participants from three age groups (i.e., children, adolescents, and emerging adults) completed a 4-year longitudinal study comprising four assessments of creative thinking at 1-year intervals. Creative thinking was assessed with the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production. While the results revealed female superiority in childhood and early adolescence, male superiority was not found in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Rather, greater sex similarities and greater male variability were found based on mean and variability analyses, respectively. This study elucidated the link between sex and creativity by (1) taking a developmental perspective, (2) employing a 4-year longitudinal design in three age groups (i.e., children, adolescents, and emerging adults), and (3) analyzing sex differences based on both mean and variability analyses.

Highlights

Creativity is commonly conceptualized as the ability to produce valuable ideas or problem solutions that have the characteristics of originality and appropriateness (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999)
The results based on the Shapiro–Wilk test (Razali and Wah, 2011) suggest that the data of the four waves of assessment in the three age groups were normally distributed in both sexes, with the W-values ranging between 0.967 and 0.986
The results of the hypotheses testing based on both mean and variability analyses are summarized according to the three hypotheses with reference to the three different developmental patterns of sex differences in creativity in each of the age groups

Summary

Introduction

Creativity is commonly conceptualized as the ability to produce valuable ideas or problem solutions that have the characteristics of originality and appropriateness (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999). A large body of research has been conducted to gain a better understanding of creativity (Hennessey and Amabile, 2010). The research question with respect to sex differences in creativity has remained intriguing (Abraham, 2016). Joining this line of research, the present study aimed to approach this question. Sex Differences, Creativity, and Development through the lens of the developmental theory of sex differences in intelligence, which may illuminate the unresolved issue from a developmental perspective. The Developmental Theory of Sex Differences in Intelligence

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Discussion

Conclusion