Reflection in the Creative Process of Early Adolescents: The Mediating Roles of Creative Metacognition, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Concept

Generally, the self-perceptive and self-reflective dimension of creative production have received less attention than the cognitive factors that contribute to the development of an individual’s creative process and production. A growing evidence base suggests that creative self-beliefs play a pivotal role in different aspects of the creative process. Moreover, metacognition about the creative process may bridge the self-perceptive to the cognitive through aspects of self-awareness, strategy selection, self-evaluation, and contextual knowledge. In the two studies reported here, we aimed to describe the nature of creative self-beliefs and metacognition in early adolescence and test their relationships in the model of creative behavior as agentic action. Results indicated strong evidence of reliability and validity of students’ scores to investigate these different dimensions of adolescents’ creative self. Different factors of creative potential predicted creative self-beliefs, metacognition, and production; however, all effects on creative production were mediated by creative metacognition and self-beliefs. Results provide new support for the model of creative behavior as agentic action, underscoring the important role of metacognition and both personal and socially mediated modes of agency. Arts integration experience contributed to the cultivation of creative production, metacognition, and self-beliefs. Middle school students’ creative strategy selection and self-regulation were the most salient of creative metacognitive components.