Fostering creative thinking in the family: The importance of parenting styles

Family plays an important role in students’ creative thinking development. However, the effect of parenting styles on creative thinking remains unclear. Using a sample of 2,143 students from a high school in northern China (58.47% girls; Mage = 16.45), the study examined the relationship between parenting styles and creative thinking. We find that the dimension of parental emotional warmth is positively related to students’ creative thinking, while parental rejection and overprotection are negatively associated with creative thinking. Father's emotional warmth has a larger positive effect on creative thinking than mother's, while maternal rejection and overprotection have a greater negative effect on creative thinking than father's. We provide some suggestive evidence that students’ internal locus of control and self-esteem mediate the relationship between parenting styles and creative thinking. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that parenting styles play a greater role in the creative thinking of girls, lower grade students, and those with disadvantaged family background. In a sense, parenting interventions that target creative thinking among underprivileged students will yield higher returns. This study unraveled the effect of parenting styles on students’ creative thinking, explored the mechanisms of the development of this relationship, and examined the heterogeneous effects of different groups. Implications, limitations and recommendations for further research were also discussed.