Overexcitabilities and Bidirectional Development in Playfulness and Creative Potential among Kindergarten Children

Fung, Wing Kai and Chung, Kevin Kien Hoa (2023) Overexcitabilities and Bidirectional Development in Playfulness and Creative Potential among Kindergarten Children. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. ISSN 1931-3896

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Abstract

This study examined the bidirectional relationship between children’s playfulness and creative potential and how these factors were longitudinally related to overexcitabilities. The participants were parents and teachers of 139 Hong Kong kindergarten children (52.1% boys, mean age = 4.4 years, age range = 3.4 to 5.9 years). At Time 1, the parents reported their children’s overexcitabilities (imaginational, psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, and emotional), and the teachers rated children’s playfulness (physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, manifest joy, and sense of humor) and creative potential (creative personality traits). Six months later, at Time 2, the teachers’ ratings of playfulness and creative potential were obtained. The results from the cross-lagged model revealed that the path from playfulness at Time 1 to creative potential at Time 2 and the path from creative potential at Time 1 to playfulness at Time 2 were both significant when the children’s age, gender, and their parent’s education were controlled. The indirect relationship between intellectual overexcitability at Time 1 and creative potential at Time 2, mediating through playfulness at Time 1, was also significant. These findings suggest that children who are overexcitable about manipulating concepts and ideas tend to be more playful and exhibit higher creative potential. At the same time, their creative potential may drive them to act playfully and engage in future kindergarten play. Practically, the results highlight the utility of promoting children’s playfulness and creative potential through increased participation in kindergarten group play activities such as sociodramatic play.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. The final version was published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-34884-001
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Wing Kai Fung
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2023 08:28
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2024 13:26
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4001

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