Autonomy as Core of Creativity and Compliance: Moderated Moderation Model of Maternal Parenting Behaviors

Abstract

Autonomy is one of the core motivators of children's creativity and (non)compliance. But it is less known how children's (non)compliance links to later creative potential and how maternal parenting behaviors contribute to those links. This article, as part of a longitudinal study, tested whether preschoolers' committed compliance and self-assertion related to their potential for motor creativity and how maternal autonomy-supporting and relatedness-supporting behaviors predicted those relations. Eighty-two Chinese children (32 boys) and their families were included. At 38 months, committed compliance and self-assertion were coded from a cleanup task. Maternal autonomysupporting and relatedness-supporting behaviors were coded from two 5-min mother-child freeplays. At 60 months, the Thinking Creativity in Action and Movement test (TCAM) was used to measure children's potential for motor creativity. Results showed that after controlling for gender and receptive language, the 38-month-olds' committed compliance negatively, and self-assertion positively, linked to creative potential at 60 months. Moderation analyses revealed that the association between self-assertion and creative potential was strengthened by maternal autonomysupporting behavior. This moderating effect, however, was weakened by maternal relatednesssupporting behavior. But maternal parenting behaviors did not moderate the association between committed compliance and creative potential. The limitations of this study were discussed.

Parental Attitudes and Behaviors and Children’s Creativity

“…In literature, it has been shown that creative children have certain positive personality traits such as autonomy (Wang & Dong, 2019), openness to new experiences (Tan et al, 2016), willingness to take risks (Zhang & Sternberg, 2011), being un-conformative (Kim & Park, 2020). These traits fall in line with the general emphasis of good parenting (Sternberg, 2004).…”

Goodness of fit in the Chinese context of socialization in the first three years.

“…Children with low levels of self-control would fit well with autonomous socialization goals. This is because the characteristics that these children commonly exhibit in toddlerhood, such as assertiveness (e.g., negotiation and saying "no" to parental requests; Wang & Dong, 2019) and the ability to defy (Dix et al, 2007), indicate their expressions of the need for autonomy, such that there is a match between parental expectations for child autonomy and these children's characteristics. In contrast, autonomous socialization goals may be mismatched with children who have high levels of compliance and/or inhibitory control and may link to poorer social adjustment as these children may show too much self-restraint, creating the dissonance between parental expectations and children's actual styles of behaving.…”

Faktor-Faktor Keluarga yang Mempengaruhi Perkembangan Kreativitas Anak Usia Dini

“…Garren (1997) menjabarkan bahwa pola pengasuhan yang mengedepankan sikap-sikap kreatif, seperti peduli, mendukung, dan toleran kepada anak-anaknya serta mendukung kebebasan berpikir dan sikap kemandirian akan dapat menumbuhkan kreativitas pada anak. Begitupula dengan Wang & Dong (2019) yang menemukan bahwa pola perilaku ibu yang mendukung otonomi anak akan dapat memperkuat hubungan antara ketegasan diri (self-assertion) dan potensi kreatif anak.…”