Effects of sibling characteristics and parental values on creative interest and achievement.

This study is concerned with the brothers and sisters of a sample of women, some of whom were considered creative by their college faculty. It inquires into family relationships associated with the development of the creative personality. The problem of the present study is then to investigate the conditions in the family which would produce individuals who are "nonadapted" but can by creative accomplishment relate to society on their own terms. The following conceptual structure has guided the selection of variables and design of materials, the motivation to engage in creative activity, for a child, reflects the combination of dissatisfaction, or a nonadapted position, with regard to his relationships in the family, symbolic facility and an approach to the world which is focused on the potential and intuitive rather than the practical. The effect of sibling position on motivation for creative achievement may be analyzed in terms of its implications for the above components. For example, the first born child is frequently overrepresented in samples of high achievers or creative persons. Several psychological factors which affect the oldest child appear to increase their predilection for eminence. Some of the same factors which affect the first-born child differently from the later-born also affect the male child differently from the female the boy more than the girl renounces dependency and affective relationships and is valued for his intellectual and physical skills. But like the oldest child, the boy may renounce his receptive side too completely, and become too narrow in outlook.