Abstract
Purpose: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has had a significant impact on people’s lives, has apparently increased the incidence of depression. Although the topic of how depression affects creativity is contested, previous research has revealed a significant relationship between the two. The purpose of this study is to further investigate the relationship and the mechanisms that operate between depression and creativity.Methods: A total of 881 students at an independent college in China completed a questionnaire consisting of the Self-Reported Depression Scale, Runco Ideational Behavior Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, Deliberate Rumination Scale and demographic information. Among the respondents, 317 (36.0%) were male and 564 (64.0%) were female, all of whom were from the same grade. Correlation analyses were conducted, and then the researchers carried out mediation analysis and developed a moderated mediation model.Results: The results indicated that (a) depression was positively related to creativity (r = 0.085, p < 0.05); (b) psychological resilience mediated the relationship between depression and creativity; specifically, psychological resilience was negatively related to depression (r = −0.462, p < 0.01), which in turn was positively related to creativity (r = 0.198, p < 0.01); and (c) deliberate rumination moderated the relationship between depression and psychological resilience, showing a significant negative correlation with depression (r = 0.138, p < 0.01), psychological resilience (r = 0.078, p < 0.05), and creativity (r = 0.288, p < 0.05); specifically, higher levels of deliberate rumination strengthened the negative correlation between psychological resilience and depression.Conclusion: The results suggest that depression is a positive predictor of creativity and may promote creativity to some extent. Further, individuals with greater psychological resilience are more creative than those with less psychological resilience, as it is a question of whether they can and to what extent they can effectively use depression as an emotional resource. Last, an individual’s level of deliberate rumination moderates the mediating process, especially at the stage where depression is associated with psychological resilience. These findings advance understanding of the mechanisms that operate between depression and creativity.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had an increasing impact on humans
Depression and creativity were positively and weakly correlated in college students (r = 0.085, p < 0.05); depression and psychological resilience were significantly and negatively correlated (r = −0.462, p < 0.01); psychological resilience was significantly and positively correlated with creativity (r = 0.198, p < 0.01); deliberate rumination was positively correlated with depression (r = 0.138, p < 0.01); deliberate rumination showed a positive correlation with psychological resilience (r = 0.078, p < 0.05); and deliberate rumination showed a positive correlation with creativity (r = 0.288, p < 0.05)
We have found that psychological resilience mediates the effects of depression on creativity and that, in turn. deliberate rumination moderates the mediating
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had an increasing impact on humans. According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 may persist for a long time. As the pandemic has worsened, governments have locked downed cities and decreed social-isolation measures for residents (Zhou et al, 2020), which has increased the risk of people developing psychological disorders. A survey of 1,770 Chinese citizens showed a 47.1% prevalence of depression and an 18.2% prevalence of major depressive symptoms due to social isolation and other reasons (Ran et al, 2020). A longitudinal investigation showed that the stress of the pandemic has had a significant impact on the college students (Wang et al, 2020), who showed varying degrees of anxiety and depression due to factors such as financial pressure and academic delays (Dhar et al, 2020). It is important to focus on the emotional impact of the pandemic on people
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