Creative tendency of Chinese students: a meta-analysis, 1999-2025
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1College of Educational Science, Bohai University, Jinzhou, China.
Introduction:
Over the past three decades, student creativity in mainland China has drawn considerable scholarly attention, accompanied by a surge in empirical studies on creative tendencies. Yet findings remain strikingly inconsistent: some report high levels of creativity, while others suggest marked declines. This discrepancy raises two central questions: what is the overall level of creative tendency, and how do scores differ across grade levels among mainland Chinese students? And what accounts for the variability across existing studies?
Methods:
To address these questions, we conducted a meta-analysis of 211 primary studies published between 1999 and 2025, all of which used Williams' Creativity Assessment Packet and collectively included 211 independent samples (N = 130,642).
Results:
Results indicated an overall mean creative tendency score of 2.158 on a 3-point Likert scale (95% CI [2.124, 2.192]). Grade level was a significant moderator: mean scores decreased successively from the elementary-school group to the high-school group, while the mean score in the university group was close to that in the middle-school group. A significant grade-level difference was also observed for the Imaginative dimension. In contrast, gender, hometown location, publication type, and study quality showed no significant moderating effects.
Discussion:
We also discussed potential drivers of these grade-related patterns, explore their theoretical and educational implications, and highlighted key directions for future research.
