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Abstract
The relationship between motivation and creativity has long been of interest and many studies have been conducted to demonstrate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on creativity. The autonomous/controlled distinction of motivation suggested by self-determination theory (SDT) provides a new perspective on the motivation issue. Based on both SDT and the confluence approach of creativity, this study attempted to examine the relationship between autonomous/controlled motivation and creative thinking as well as the moderating role of parental involvement/autonomy support on this relationship. Five hundred and fifty Chinese high school students participated in the study and their autonomous/controlled motivation, parental involvement/autonomy support, and creative thinking were measured. Results indicated that autonomous motivation positively predicted creative thinking, and this relationship was moderated by parental involvement. For both junior and senior high school students, autonomous motivation was more strongly related to creative thinking when there was high maternal involvement. The moderating role of paternal involvement, however, differed between junior and senior high school students and there existed a 3-way interaction effect. Implications of this study for cultivating creativity among Chinese adolescents are also discussed.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the key projects of Philosophy and Social Science Grant of Department of Education, China (11JZD040), by Humanities and Social Science Planning Grant of Department of Education, China (12YJA190024), also by Science and Technology Planning Projects of Shandong Province, China (2012GGB01189), and by Key Subject Funds of Shandong Province, China (2011–2015). We are grateful to all the students and teachers who participated in or contributed to this project.
Notes
Note. N = 550. Reliabilities are in parentheses. AM = autonomous motivation; CM = controlled motivation; MI = maternal involvement; MAS = maternal autonomy support; PI = paternal involvement; PAS = paternal autonomy support; CT = creative thinking.
a Junior high school students were coded as 0 and senior high school students were coded as 1. b Girls were coded as 0 and boys were coded as 1.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Note. N = 550. Standardized beta coefficients are shown.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.