Cognitive Reserve and Creative Thinking in Aging: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Role of Education, Occupation, and Leisure Activities

Cognitive reserve (CR) is widely recognized as a protective factor that supports cognitive functioning across the lifespan. Recent research suggests a reciprocal relationship between CR and creative thinking—particularly divergent thinking (DT)—with DT potentially contributing to and benefiting from CR and remaining relatively preserved in older adulthood. This cross-sectional study, conducted in Italy between April and July 2025 using convenience sampling, examined whether CR predicts verbal and conceptual creativity in healthy older adults. One hundred participants (aged 65–92 years; M = 68.45, SD = 8.12) completed the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq), the Test di Intelligenza Breve (TIB; Short Intelligence Test), and two creativity tasks. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 25.0; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Multiple regression analyses showed that overall CR significantly predicted all creativity outcomes, including verbal fluency (β = 0.316, p = 0.011) and flexibility (β = 0.336, p = 0.007), as well as conceptual fluency (β = 0.371, p = 0.003), flexibility (β = 0.381, p = 0.002), and originality (β = 0.338, p = 0.006). Education and leisure activities more strongly predicted verbal creativity, whereas occupational experience and leisure activities predominantly predicted conceptual creativity. These findings indicate that CR supports creative thinking in later life and highlight the importance of cognitively and socially enriched experiences across the lifespan.