Modeling the Spiritual Vitality of Parents in Relation to Creativity with the Mediating Role of Personality Traits of Gifted Female Children

Intelligence and creativity are two fundumental epistemological structures that largely determine the cultural richness of our species. In today's complex world, smart and creative people with novel ideas and divergent thinking are among the most valuable assets in any society and nation. Any attempt to include creativity assessment in gifted programs is complex and controversial. Examining the personality characteristics of students with outstanding talent and intelligence is one of the areas of interest for experts and psychologists. Vitality in the family is another factor that pushes children and teenagers more and more towards creativity. Various studies have examined several factors that play a role in the mental health and popularity of intelligent adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to model the spiritual vitality of parents in relation to creativity with the mediating role of personality traits of gifted girls.

Due to its descriptive–analytical nature, the present research method was presented in the form of structural equation modeling. The study’s statistical population comprised all high school students in Sampad girls' schools in districts 6 and 13 of Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year 2020–2021 with their parents. They were selected as a sample group using the available sampling method. The inclusion criteria for gifted girls were as follows: studying in the secondary level of Sampad schools, being considered as a gifted student in the intelligence test in the academic record, living with their own parents, not suffering from a specific physical disease or psychological disorder, and not being under psychological or special drug treatment. Also, the inclusion criteria for parents of gifted girls were as follows: not being divorced, having at least a diploma level of education, not suffering from a specific physical disease or psychological disorder, and not undergoing psychological or special drug treatment. The exclusion criterion was lack of cooperation in completing the questionnaires. To collect data, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 2013), Afrooz Spiritual Vitality Questionnaire (Afrooz, 2016) and HEXACO Personality Traits Questionnaire (De Vries et al., 2013) were used. The Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data via SPSS software version 24 and AMOS version 24. The significance level of all tests was 0.05.

Examining the direct path coefficients between different paths showed that spiritual vitality had significant direct effects on personality traits (p=0.018, Beta=0.44) and personality traits on creativity (p=0.047, Beta=0.29). But spiritual vitality lacked a direct effect on creativity (p=0.188, Beta=0.1). The indirect effect of spiritual vitality on creativity with the mediating role of personality traits was significant (p=0.002, Beta=0.129). Considering that most of the fit indices (CMIN/df=2.029, GFI=0.956, NFI=0.918, RMSEA=0.057) were within the permissible range, the collected data were suitable with the proposed research model.

Based on the research findings, the personality characteristics of gifted students mediate the relationship between parents' spiritual vitality and students' creativity. Also, the pattern of structural relationships of parents' spiritual vitality in relation to creativity with the mediating role of gifted children's personality traits has an acceptable fit.