Exploring the processes that lead young adults to channel their creativity in various fields and degrees of social acceptance: An interactionist grounded theory study

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to better understand creativity and creative development as well as the many factors that contribute to the processes that lead young adults to channel their creativity in various fields and degrees of social acceptance. Adolescents, parents, teachers, educational systems, and society as a whole would benefit from a deeper understanding of how creative individuals interact with, shape and seek out environments to fulfil their various creative needs. Society can ill-afford the incalculable loss of squandered or negatively applied creative talent. The present project was guided by an interactionist (Woodman & Schoenfeldt, 1989)/ecological (Harrington, 1990) process model of creativity which takes into account the four major strands (person, process, product and press) of inquiry involved in creativity research and provides the basis for a robust conceptual framework for their holistic study. To this end, a constructivist, qualitative approach was adopted. The research design for the present study adheres most closely to the social constructionist interpretation and application of the grounded theory method as outlined by Charmaz (1990, 2000). Biographical questionnaires and interviews, or "guided conversations", were undertaken with twenty-six (26) participants; ages ranging from 17-31 with the majority (22) aged between 18-24. They were chosen because they are notably creative in fields of varying degrees of social acceptance and because they represent a wide variation of schooling experiences and backgrounds. Specifically, they represented, among many others, high school valedictorians and drop-outs, graffiti artists, JUNO nominated musicians, painters, writers, actors, as well as scientific innovators. They were selected as a result of high school peer and teacher nominations, nominations from two guidance counsellors in a high school, judgement of products, snowballing, and informal peer nominations. Insights resulting from the questionnaire and interviews include a grounded theory process model for the "evolution" of the creative person. In addition, the methodological implications of adopting a constructivist perspective together with the newer relational views of research validity are examined; as are the implications the findings hold for educational policy and practice as well as the potential implications the research holds for the future study of young adults and creativity.