Psychological adjustment of creative children: perspectives from self, peer and teacher

Previous research in the literature on the relationships between creativity and psychological adjustment tended to use only one or two sources of creativity assessment and focus on a few aspects of adjustment. To examine creative children's psychological adjustment more thoroughly, this exploratory study assessed children's creativity from multiple sources (objective assessment, teachers and peers) and incorporated multiple aspects of adjustment (self-concept, popularity and sociability). The sample consisted of 53 primary school children. Findings revealed that 10% of the children were selected by both teachers and peers as creative, among whom half of these children were identified as creative based on their creativity scores. Those identified as creative based on the Wallach-Kogan creativity tests scores were more popular and perceived to possess sociability-leadership traits. Children perceived by teachers as creative saw themselves as better in academic, social and general self-concept. Finally, those perceived by peers as creative rated themselves as better in appearance self-concept. These findings provide a foundation for further research, and their implications are discussed.