Exploring the Psychological Factors Related to Creativity Among Bilingual College Students in the United States

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Bilingual Education Research Poster Session: Research and Implications for Bilingual and Multilingual Students

Abstract

Role of creativity has received largely support in bilingual literature. However, the positive psychological processes that may contribute to creativity in bilinguals only received little attention. This study focused on exploring the possible psychological processes related to creativity in bilingual population. 284 bilingual college students in the U.S. participated in this study. Results showed that: 1) openness to experience, cognitive flexibility and self-esteem were all positively correlated with creativity moderately to strongly; 2) cognitive flexibility and self-esteem could partially mediate the relationship between openness to experience and creativity. Results suggested that openness to experience, self-esteem, especially cognitive flexibility, potentially plays a positive role in promoting creativity of bilingual students. Practical implications about bilingual’s creativity through positive personal factors were discussed.

Author

• xinjie chen, Stanford University