Predictive Power of Social Environment, Grit, and Motivation for Creative Potential of Science Learners

Abstract

The study was conducted on science learners at high school- and college-level to explore the interrelation of various factors from social environment, cognitive, and non-cognitive resources affecting their creative potential. A hierarchical regression method was used to determine how well positive behavior of parents, supportive behavior of friend groups, grit, motivation in science, and legislative thinking style could predict the creative potential of the science learners. The results revealed that supportive friend group behavior, consistency of interest (a sub-factor of grit), and legislative thinking style can predict the creative potential of science learners. Group variance explained by them was at over 53%. Legislative thinking style turned out to be the most dominant predictor, with 63% of unique variance explained by it. Positive friend group behavior came second, with 9% unique variance explained to the residual. Finally, consistency of interest could explain 12% of unique variance but with negative sign, implying it was not a component of the creative potential of science learners.