You might assume that creative ability is one of those things that you’re either born with or not, but a new study has shown that mothers can have a strong influence on the creativity of their children.
And it looks like mums with one particular personality trait are more likely to cultivate a creative environment for their kids…
Researchers from three universities in Poland looked at the way in which 3,000 mothers’ personality traits correlated to the creative pursuits of their kids, and found that mums with an openness to experience were most likely to support their child’s creative potential.
The team focused on the mothers’ ‘Big Five’ personality traits in their experiment – extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism – while also assessing via a questionnaire how likely they were to foster an environment of creativity for their kids at home.
“Our findings show that openness to experience is the key positive predictor of mothers’ activities that shape the climate for creativity in her relationship with the child,” the researchers concluded in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity.
Other key characteristics they identified were extraversion, emotional stability and agreeableness.
But, no matter your personality type, the researchers also revealed four actions that parents can take to encourage creativity in their children: encouragement to experience novelty and variety, encouragement of nonconformism, support of perseverance in creative efforts, and encouragement to fantasise.
So, if you fancy having the next Mozart in your family, you know what to do…
