How Creative Self-Regulation Is Associated with Adolescent Creativity: The Sequential Mediating Roles of Cognitive Flexibility and Creative Self-Efficacy

Understanding the relationship between creative self-regulation and adolescent creativity is important for advancing research on creativity development. However, the psychological processes that may account for this association remain insufficiently explored. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between creative self-regulation and self-reported domain-specific creativity among adolescents, with particular attention to the sequential mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and creative self-efficacy. A total of 1204 Chinese adolescents completed the Creative Self-Regulation Questionnaire (CSRQ), the 20-item Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (20-K-DOCS), the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), and the Creative Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES). The results showed that creative self-regulation was positively associated with self-reported domain-specific creativity, with significant indirect associations through cognitive flexibility and creative self-efficacy. In addition, a significant sequential indirect association was observed through cognitive flexibility and creative self-efficacy. Specifically, higher levels of creative self-regulation were associated with greater cognitive flexibility, which was in turn associated with higher creative self-efficacy and higher self-reported creativity scores. These findings support an integrated cognitive–motivational framework for understanding the interrelationships among creative self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, creative self-efficacy, and self-reported domain-specific creativity among adolescents, while highlighting these constructs as potentially relevant psychological resources in educational contexts. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should not be interpreted as establishing causal or temporal relationships among the constructs.