Problem-Solving Ability and Stress Mediate the Relationship Between Creativity and Happiness

Abstract

Many studies have found that creativity tends to promote happiness, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study proposed and tested a serial mediation model to investigate the relationships among creativity, problem solving, stress, and happiness on emerging adults and adolescents (N = 1,146). It is hypothesized that creativity is conducive to happiness indirectly through (a) problem-solving ability, (b) stress, and (c) problem-solving ability and then stress (i.e., serial mediating effect). Undergraduate students and secondary school students self-reported their creativity, social problem-solving ability, stress, happiness, and life satisfaction. The mediating role of problem-solving ability and the serial mediating effect were found statistically significant while controlling the effect of life satisfaction. The mediating role of stress, however, was not supported. The findings not only lend further support to the beneficial effect of self-perceived creativity on happiness, but also extend our understanding on the relationship by revealing the underlying process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Another analysis was conducted without 12 participants aged 26 and above. Identical results found suggested that age has negligible impact.

2. Similar analyses were conducted on the three data sets without including the life satisfaction. Results were identical except that the mediating effect of stress was found significant in Study 2b.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/2015/SS05/UTAR/02/2) awarded to the first author. Preliminary findings were presented at the Asian Association of Social Psychology’s biennial conference 2017 (AASP 2017) in August 2017, Auckland, New Zealand and International Conference on Education and Psychology (ICEduPsy16) in September 2016, Sabah, Malaysia.