Nothing but stereotypes? Negligible sex differences across creativity measures in Science, Arts and Sports adolescent high achievers

Previous research has focused on understanding when, why and how sex differences in creativity occur, as results vary across samples, measures and methodologies. In the current study we investigated sex differences in creativity among 984 high achieving adolescents in three expertise areas: Sciences, Arts, and Sports.

Eight creativity indicators were analyzed: Alternative Uses Task (AUT) Fluency; Creative Self-Efficacy (CSE); intraindividual strengths (difference between CSE and AUT Fluency); 5 self-reported creativity scales: Self / Everyday, Scholarly, Performance, Mechanical / Scientific, Artistic.

The results showed negligible sex differences (np2 = .01), with females performing better in AUT Fluency and males self-rating their CSE higher. No sex differences were found in Self / Everyday, Scholarly and Performance creativity. Males self-rated their Mechanical / Scientific creativity (np2 = .06) higher than females; while females self-rated their Artistic creativity (np2 = .02) higher in comparison to males.

Our results extend the existing literature by finding negligible sex differences in adolescent expert groups. However, some stereotypical differences emerged, for example, females with Sciences expertise rated their Mechanical / Scientific creativity lower than males with and even without Sciences expertise. Results call for further investigation into the links between sex differences, expertise and specific creativity domains.