Creativity and Well‐being: A Meta‐analysis

Selcuk Acar; Harun Tadik; Danielle Myers; Carian van der Sman; Recep Uysal

doi:10.1002/jocb.485

journal article Open Access Dec 12, 2020

Creativity and Well‐being: A Meta‐analysis

Selcuk Acar Harun Tadik Danielle Myers Carian van der Sman Recep Uysal

The Journal of Creative Behavior Vol. 55 No. 3 pp. 738-751 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/jocb.485

Abstract

AbstractCreativity and well‐being are popular subjects in psychological and organizational studies. The recent literature presented mixed perspectives about the nature of the relationship between the two. Whereas the mad‐genius hypothesis, which was often explored among eminently creative individuals, seems to imply a negative relationship between the two, trends in the field of creativity, such as everyday creativity and general psychology (i.e., positive psychology) linked them positively. The present meta‐analysis study synthesized 189 effect sizes obtained from 32 samples in 26 different studies based on a total sample of 8,189. Analyses with multilevel modeling yielded a mean effect of r = .14. The moderator analysis tested the impact of age, gender, measure of creativity, measure of well‐being, stimulus type of creativity measure, and index of creativity measure. Only the creativity measure explained the variation in the study outcomes. The relationship between creativity and well‐being was significantly higher when creativity was measured by instruments focusing on creative activity and behavior (r = .22) than the divergent thinking tasks (r = .06). Those findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

144

[1]

Abraham A. "Is there an inverted‐U relationship between creativity and psychopathology?" Frontiers in Psychology (2015)

[2]

10.1016/j.schres.2017.08.036

[3]

Acar S. &Ogurlu U.(2019).Meta‐analyses on creativity: A Technical review. Unpublished report. 10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.23677-8

[4]

10.1037/a0027497

[5]

10.1037/a0031975

[6]

10.1017/s0767399x00002625

[7]

10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.367

[8]

10.1016/0010-440x(88)90044-2

[9]

10.1176/ajp.144.10.1288

[10]

Arshad S. "Personality and creativity as predictors of psychological well‐being in college students" Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung (2016)

[11]

10.1037/a0012815

[12]

10.1080/00405846609542018

[13]

Becker G. (1978)

[14]

10.2307/2533446

[15]

10.1108/02683940810869042

[16]

10.1002/9780470743386

[17]

Bryk A.S. (1992)

[18]

10.1016/j.tsc.2015.11.002

[19]

10.1177/070674371105600304

[20]

10.1007/s10902-015-9615-y

[21]

10.1207/s15326934crj1801_4

[22]

10.1037/a0032968

[23]

10.1177/0305735613489916

[24]

10.1177/0013164404263883

[25]

10.1207/s15326934crj1704_4

[26]

*Collins A.L.(2006).Subjective well‐being in old age: An investigation into the role of flow and creativity(Unpublished doctoral dissertation).Boston College Boston MA.

[27]

Compton W.C. (2019)

[28]

10.1080/17439760.2016.1257049

[29]

10.1037/aca0000022

[30]

10.3109/08039480903287565

[31]

10.4236/jss.2016.49003

[32]

10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.04.001

[33]

Diener E. "Age and subjective well‐being: An international analysis" Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics (1998)

[34]

10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276

[35]

10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00079

[36]

10.1016/j.respol.2012.04.001

[37]

10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629

[38]

10.1111/joop.12064

[39]

10.1016/s0890-4065(99)00021-3

[40]

*Forgeard M.J.C.(2015).When how and for whom does creativity predict well‐being?(Doctoral dissertation). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1056. Retrieved fromhttps://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1056

[41]

Forgeard M.J.C. "Doing the right thing: Measuring wellbeing for public policy" International Journal of Wellbeing (2011)

[42]

Frolova S.V. "Emotional creativity as a factor of individual and family psychological wellbeing" International Annual Edition of Applied Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice (2015)

[43]

10.1080/0360127930190304

[44]

10.1080/10400419.2017.1263511

[45]

10.1177/1466424006064303

[46]

10.1080/10400419.2017.1376548

[47]

Hatem O. "How does creative self‐efficacy ınfluence employee well‐being? Exploring the moderating role of transformational leadership" International Journal of Research Studies in Psychology (2016)

[48]

Herzlich C. (1973)

[49]

10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557

[50]

10.1016/s0191-8869(00)00229-4

Showing 50 of 144 references

Cited By

129

Creative aging and lifelong learning through singing+: A scoping review

Julia Brook, Colleen Renihan · 2026

Research Studies in Music Education

Exploring the relationship between reading literacy and creativity competence: A multilevel modeling approach

Yuyang Cai, Yan Chen · 2026

Thinking Skills and Creativity

Positive and negative affect facilitate creativity motivation: Findings on the effects of habitual mood and experimentally induced emotion

Wu-jing He · 2023

Frontiers in Psychology

Metrics

129

Citations

144

References

Details

Published: Dec 12, 2020
Vol/Issue: 55(3)
Pages: 738-751
License: View

Authors

S

Selcuk Acar

University of North Texas Denton TX USA

H

Harun Tadik

The University of Georgia Athens GA USA

D

Danielle Myers

Buffalo State, State University of New York Buffalo NY USA

C

Carian van der Sman

Impulsor.Health Nootdorp The Netherlands

R

Recep Uysal

Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands

Cite This Article

Selcuk Acar, Harun Tadik, Danielle Myers, et al. (2020). Creativity and Well‐being: A Meta‐analysis. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 55(3), 738-751. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.485

Creativity and Well‐being: A Meta‐analysis

You May Also Like