Impact of perceived social support and gender on creativity level of university undergraduates

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of perceived social support and gender on creativity level in a sample of university undergraduates. The present study was conducted on undergraduates taken from University of Sargodha through random sampling (N = 177; M.A/M.Sc, II, and IV). Sample was comprised of boys (n = 74) and girls (n = 103). Urdu translated Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (Yousaf & Ghayas, 2003) was used to measure perceived social support; while, creativity was assessed through Urdu translated Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Shaheen, 2010). Analyses portrayed that perceived social support was significant and positive predictor of creativity. Gender difference was not found in perceived social support. Analysis revealed that girls were significantly high on creativity as compared to boys. The t-test analysis revealed that girl’s scores were significantly high on fluency, abstractness of title, resistance to premature closure, abstractness of title, originality and fantasy than boys. While, boys scored high on internal visualization as compared to girls. Non-significant gender difference were found in elaboration, movement or action, storytelling articulateness, humor, expressiveness of title, colorfulness of imagery, unusual visualization, synthesis of lines, extending or breaking boundaries, synthesis of incomplete figure, richness of imagery. Limitation and suggestions for future studies have been discussed.