A longitudinal study of correlates of creativity

Longitudinal divergent thinking and motivational and personality assessment data were collected from school children (from their 1st through their 12th grade) who were selected as having creative potential according to the Williams (1972) Cognitive Affective Interaction (CAI) model. The research was initiated as an evaluation design with treatment and nontreatment groups and the CAI enrichment with the treatment group. Findings suggest treatment effects up through the 6th grade and then a decline in divergent‐thinking scores occurs by the 9th and 12th grades. Self‐esteem and self‐concept scores showed a similar trend, but personality scores remained fairly stable. Limitations of the test of motivation prevented conclusions regarding them. It seems likely that the decline in divergent thinking after the 6th grade was related to a change in the enrichment program in which the subjects after the 6th grade did not participate weekly in the small group activities. The findings are discussed in the context of the larger research project of which they are a part and their implications regarding the construct validity of “creativity.”;