Creativity as a developmental catalyst in positive youth development: The I-CPYD framework for arts-based youth interventions

Arts-based youth interventions have increasingly been associated with positive developmental outcomes within the field of Positive Youth Development (PYD). However, although substantial scholarship has examined processes within arts-based and Creative Youth Development interventions, the integrative mechanisms through which specific forms of creative engagement connect and potentially co-activate PYD dimensions remain theoretically under-specified. Addressing this conceptual gap, the present article introduces the Integrative Creative–Positive Youth Development (I-CPYD) framework, which synthesizes insights from PYD theory, Creative Youth Development (CYD), and sociocultural perspectives on creativity. Drawing on a critical interpretive synthesis of the international literature, creativity is conceptualized not merely as an additional developmental dimension but as a potentially catalytic developmental process that may dynamically activate and interconnect the seven dimensions of the expanded 7Cs model: Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, Caring, Contribution, and Creativity. The framework further specifies that the developmental direction of creative engagement is not inherently positive but depends on relational, ecological, and ethical conditions. I-CPYD therefore provides a theoretically grounded interpretive lens for examining how, for whom, and under what conditions arts-based youth interventions may contribute to developmental processes, youth thriving, and well-being across diverse sociocultural contexts.