Paracosms and adolescent creativity: mediating roles of coping, divergent thinking, and passion in world-building

Paracosms, elaborated imaginary worlds people invent, maintain, and develop over time, have long been linked to creativity, but the evidence is largely retrospective and the direction unresolved. This mixed-methods study examined how paracosmic activity relates to creative behaviour in adolescence, and whether it partly accounts for associations between creative behaviour and adaptive coping, divergent thinking, and passion. Four hundred Bangkok Grade 7–9 students completed self-report measures, analysed by structural equation modelling. Paracosmic activity showed the largest association with creative behaviour (β = .35) and partially accounted for each of the three associations. Interviews with 16 high-scoring adolescents yielded six themes: personal ownership, adversity as a catalyst, cognitive skill development, emotional coping, creative collaboration, and fantasy–reality boundary management. Because of cross-sectional design, direction cannot be established; the relation is plausibly reciprocal. World-building serves varied functions, enjoyment and absorption among them, and is one route among several to creative behaviour.