=Paper= {{Paper |id=Vol-2524/paper24 |storemode=property |title=From creativity to future: the role of career adaptability |pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2524/paper24.pdf |volume=Vol-2524 |authors=Luca Fusco,Anna Parola,Luigia Simona Sica |dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/psychobit/FuscoPS19 }} ==From creativity to future: the role of career adaptability== https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2524/paper24.pdf

From creativity to future: the role of career adaptability
Luca Fusco1[0000-0003-0128-997X], Anna Parola1[0000-0002-3002-6522],
Luigia Simona Sica1[0000-0001-5587-8097]

1
University of Naples Federico II
luca.fusco@unina.it

Abstract.
The present study aimed to explore the effect of positive and negative creativity
on the career construction process during adolescence. Since creativity has been
conceptualized as a useful resource for identity construction, we tested the influ-
ence of creativity on future orientation, assessing the role of career adaptability.
338 high school students participated to the study. Structural equation model
showed gender differences since hypothesized relations were only found signifi-
cant in females. Results highlight a different function of positive creativity in
Italian boys and girls. The use of creativity in career counseling for adolescents,
through technological tools, is discussed.

Keywords: Creativity, Future, Career Adaptability.

1 Introduction

Creativity and Life Tasks in adolescence

Creativity is one of the key resources people can differently count on in order to resolve
tasks of many types (including everyday challenges as well as life choices or develop-
mental tasks) [1]. The process of defining one’s self-identity has been, by some ap-
proaches [2,3], interpreted as an act of creativity. According to these, shaping one’s
self, and consequently his desires, goals and life projects which are in line with this idea
of self, would be an effect of the creativity one can count on. The choice of a profession
and creation of a life project is a major life task which, because of the characteristics of
contemporary careers, continues to be questioned for the whole life course [4]. Never-
theless, it is during adolescence that this task begins to be particularly important and
assumes a central position, because it allows the teenagers to access to future realistic
representations of self. During this phase, activities and dimensions involved in crea-
tivity processes help the individual to deal with many psychological and social chal-
lenges related to identity construction [1]. First of all, creativity can help the adolescent
explore new alternative ways of being and can help him originally mix and integrate
heterogenous characteristics about self. Moreover, engaging in creative activities can
provide positive identity contents for the kid and helps him experiencing life satisfac-
tion and self-expression. This can work as a strong basis for self-esteem [5] and self-
efficacy [6,7,8]. For all of those reasons it has been suggested that career counseling

and life design interventions may, aiming to help the individual constructing a future
plan, intervene through creative techniques. At the same time, interventions should pro-
mote creativity as a resource of the individual and get him able to use it for defining
one’s vocational identity, and therefore develop a positive future orientation [9]. Stud-
ies have shown how creativity, in educational contexts can be stimulated using tech-
nology and web-based practices [10,11] and it could be useful for career intervention
to apply similar methods. Creativity has been found linked to career adaptability [12],
the possibility for the individual to manage change through different skills, and it has
been found that low levels of creativity were associated to career-indecision [13]. Kids
with high level of creativity can more easily find their way to adapt to the job market
and to make plans for life. For all of these reasons, it is reasonable to think that creativ-
ity in adolescence may be an important element for the construction of career projects
and for future orientation.

Positive and negative creativity

As we can see, the role of creativity as a resource for personal development has been
widely explored by previous researches. Nonetheless, in the last years, some attention
was given to what has been called “Negative Creativity”, the use of creativity which,
differently from the traditional “Positive Creativity”, includes the intention to reach
negative goals (like cheating, deceiving, tricking, etc.), which can harm others, but not
deliberately [14,15]. Even if negative creativity is associated to lesser integrity [16], it
has been thought that positive and negative creativity can lead to both positive and
negative outcome. During adolescence, negative and positive creativity can be both
used by the individual in order to explore its context and find new way to express him-
self.

2 Current Study

The current study aimed to verify the relation between positive and negative creativity
and future orientation in Italian adolescents. Precisely we hypothesized that positive
and negative creativity, as useful resources for resolving identity construction and other
developmental tasks, could be predictors of future orientation during adolescence. We
also imagined that career adaptability, since it is an antecedent of career choices and
life design, and has a direct link with creativity, could play a mediating role between
creativity and future orientation. Some minor differences in creativity dimensions or
domains was sometimes found in previous studies [3,17]. For this reason, this study
also aimed to explore gender differences in negative and positive creativity and in re-
lations between creativity, career adaptability and future orientation. Results could help
us think about creative strategies and methods, also based on digital technologies, de-
signed to support, stimulating teenagers’ creativity itself, their career construction pro-
cess.
3

3 Methods

3.1 Participants

The sample consisted of 338 adolescents (133 males; 205 females), aged 18-20 years
(Mage = 18.85; SDage = .51) attending the last year of various high schools in a large
Italian city (Naples). The data collection was carried out in the classroom in the pres-
ence of the first author. Completion time was between 20 and 40 minutes. Only students
volunteering to take part were involved in the research; of the total number of respond-
ents, 90% took part in the research. Students were asked to read the instructions of the
questionnaire before beginning self-evaluation.

3.2 Measures

Creativity Measures [14]. The CM was used to assess positive-creativity, negative-
creativity and neutral-creativity. It presented 15 situations with three choices for each
item. For this study, we only used positive-creativity, negative-creativity. The Italian
version of this tool, which has been used in the current study, is in course of validation.

Design My Future [18]. The DMF was used to assess resilience and future orientation.
For this study, we used only future orientation scale, of 11-items. The participants were
asked to rate on a 5 point-scale from 1 (=not at all) to 5 (=very well). For this study,
Cronbach’s alpha was .90.

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale [19] The CAAS was used to assess career adaptability
of adolescents. For this research, the Italian-validated version [20], consists of 24-items,
was used. The participants were asked to rate on a 5 point-scale from 1 (=not strong) to
5 (=strongest). The scale assesses four dimensions: concern (6-items), control, (6-
items) curiosity (6-items), and confidence (6-items). For this study, Cronbach’s alpha
for the four subscales were .86, .78, .79, and .84.

3.3 Data Analysis

Means and standard deviations were performed (Table 1). Preliminary analyses of var-
iance (ANOVAs) were also run in IBM SPSS 24 to verify whether gender differences
would emerge in the dimensions considered. ANOVAs revealed a significant effect of
gender on Positive Creativity [F(1, 336)=7.995, p=.005, η2=.023]; but not on Negative
Creativity [F(1, 336)=2.129, p=.145, η2=.006]. These results confirm the importance of
distinguishing gender when testing an overall model linking creativity, future orienta-
tion and career adaptability.
To test equivalence of the structural parameters across groups (male vs. female), two
nested models were considered. A baseline model, in which parameters were freely
estimated across groups, and a fully constrained model, in which the structural paths
were constrained to be equal. The Satorra-Bentler chi-square difference test (ΔSBχ2)
4

was used to test relative fit of nested models [21]. When the more constrained model
was rejected, a less restrictive model of partial invariance was tested in which, in ac-
cordance with modification indices, equality constraints on one or more parameters
were relaxed until the change in fit was no longer significant. In both models, the effects
of positive creativity and negative creativity on career adaptability, positive creativity
and negative creativity on future orientation, career adaptability on future orientation,
and indirect effect on positive creativity and negative creativity on future orientation
with mediating role of career adaptability were considered. The career adaptability (M)
as a latent variable was tested within the structural equation model (SEM) and used.
Precisely, we used the internal consistency approach [22] to form multiple observed
indicators and created latent construct for career adaptability (concern, control, curios-
ity, and confidence), as already done in previous studies [23]. In our analysis, career
adaptability shows an internal consistency and all standardized regression weights sig-
nificant (p< .001). The models included correlations among CAAS dimensions. SEM
models were run in Mplus 8.0 by using the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation.

4 Results

We conducted structural equation modeling tests to evaluate the conceptual model.
Firstly, we tested the hypothesized model across male and female groups simultane-
ously without imposing any equality constraints. The baseline model produced a good
fit to the data, χ2(16) = 39.025, CFI= .97, TLI= .93, RMSEA= .092. The baseline model
in the present study was not fully identical across groups. When the fit of the uncon-
strained model was compared to the fit of a fully constrained model in which all paths
were held equivalent across the two groups, the Satorra-Bentler chi-square difference
test that imposing the equality constraints resulted in a significantly worse model, χ2(23)
= 38.031, CFI= .98, TLI= .97, RMSEA= .062. Specifically, one regression coefficient
differed across the two groups. Modification indices suggested that we could improve
the model by releasing the constrained from positive creativity to career adaptability.
The path from positive creativity to career adaptability was significant for female
(β=.062, p=.013) but not for male. This path was released and the model was re-esti-
mated, χ2(22) = 32.304, CFI= .99, TLI= .98, RMSEA= .053. Lastly, we tested the nested
structural model using the scaled difference χ2 test, ΔSBχ2(6) = 6.721, p=.35 [24].
Thus, significant group differences exist in the conceptual model across male and fe-
male adolescent. The standardized regression path coefficients for groups are presented
in Figure 1.
In female results show the significant effect of positive creativity on career adaptability,
career adaptability on future orientation (β=1.33, p=.023). No significant direct effect
of positive creativity on future orientation was found. Significant indirect effect of pos-
itive creativity on future orientation mediated by career adaptability resulted (β=.083,
p=.010). In male results show only significant effect of career adaptability on future
orientation (β=1.33, p=.023).
5

Table 1. Means and Standard Deviation for male and female subsample

Male Female
M SD M SD
Positive Creativity 4.67 1.59 5.20 1.77
Negative Creativity 1.64 1.36 1.42 1.30
Future Orientation 3.84 .72 3.80 .76
CAAS_Concern 3.71 .70 3.66 .75
CAAS_Control 4.01 .61 4.04 .65
CAAS_Curiosity 3.87 .61 3.82 .66
CAAS_Confidence 4.07 .57 3.87 .67

Figure 1. Standardized regression path coefficients for the male and female subsam-
ples

CAREER
ADAPTABILITY
POSITIVE
CREATIVITY

NEGATIVE FUTURE
.021/.021
CREATIVITY ORIENTATION

Indirect Effect of Positive Creativity on Future Orientation through Career Adaptability:
-.025/.083**
Indirect Effect of Negative Creativity on Future Orientation through Career Adaptability:
.026/.026

Note: Regression path coefficients for the males group are indicated before /, for the females
group after /. Solid lines represent significant paths. All coefficients significant are indicated in
bold. Non-standardized values are reported. * p ≤ .05; ** p ≤ .01

5 Discussion

Our study highlighted a different kind of use of creativity between male and female
adolescents. While no gender differences were found in the use of negative creativity,
analysis of variance showed that females reported higher scores than males in positive
creativity. Apparently, Italian girls use classic creativity having positive intention, more
6

than boys. Gender differences were not only found in scores, but also in their links with
the career construction processes of Italian boys and girls. In fact, the hypothesized
effect of positive creativity on career adaptability only resulted in girls, while was not
significant in boys. This result underlines a different function of positive creativity in
Italian boys and girls. While in boys it seems to have no connection at all with the career
construction process, in girls career adaptability also mediates its effect on future ori-
entation. Therefore, positive creativity can be assumed as an important factor in the
process of designing one’s future life or career. The resources girls can count on for
developmental tasks and career transition [4] are then influenced by how much they’re
used to spend their positive creativity. This result may be interpreted considering the
different conditions of careers between man and women in the work market, where
women have to face harder challenges for constructing their career paths. Especially in
Italy, where fewer than half of working-age Italian women are in employment and, just
like in the rest of the world, have lower incomes than women, successful career paths
may be more hardly thinkable for young girls. This is why girls may need to make a
stronger creativity effort in order to develop the adaptability skills, which allow them
to make career plans. By the way, no direct effect was found between positive creativity
and future orientation. The only significant effect between the two is mediated by career
adaptability, showing that creativity only allows girl to be more ready to manage change
and career tasks, while it has no direct link on the possibility of thinking one’s future.
The only effect which was found significant both for males and females is the positive
influence of career adaptability on future orientation, which confirmed the original hy-
pothesis on the career adaptability construct [4] and previous studies on Italian adoles-
cents [18]. Although it was pictured that negative and positive creativity are not neces-
sarily rigidly linked to negative and positive outcomes [16], results showed that while
positive creativity had a positive effect on career adaptability, which mediated its effect
on future orientation, no significant effect was found for negative creativity and that
therefore, being capable of using “dark” original solution has no impact on the career
construction process.

6 Conclusion

Among the different results, attention must be paid to the indirect effect between posi-
tive creativity on future orientation mediated by career adaptability. In this direction,
the study deepened the relationship between positive creativity and career adaptability.
Regarding the dimensions of career adaptability, it may be important to carry out ex-
aminations of the four subcomponents instead of only general career adaptability, in
order to evaluate potential differential effects of single sub-dimensions (concern, con-
trol, curiosity, and confidence). In fact, from the first analyses, in progress, a stronger
relationship emerges between positive creativity and curiosity in female group.
7

Moreover, future research could also consider further positive psychology variables to
deepen the role of gender in creativity use, which could also be taken into account for
possible interventions.
Our findings have important conceptual and practical implications.
First, the study provides support for counseling interventions to help individuals design
their future by creativity. According to previous studies [25,26], creativity play a central
role in career counseling because it allows individuals to look at a situation from dif-
ferent perspectives. In addition, in a society characterized by technology and virtual
reality, career practitioners can use creative methods, facilitating the counseling process
in moving toward a meaningful future [27]. Taking into account the link between cre-
ativity and technology [28,29,30], the gender differences in creativity use highlighted
in scientific literature [31], creativity training based on technology could be imple-
mented in higher education, as well as in academic settings [32,33].
In conclusion, especially for girls, the creativity skills could facilitate the career con-
struction process during the school-to-work transition. In particular, we refer to career
adaptability, as sets of skills necessary for greater adaptability to changes in the current
labor market. As economic crisis do not spare the future of young people [34, 35], the
positive creativity [16] could be considered as an important element to face and manage
this de-jobbing era [36].

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