Martinez, CharlesAnderson, Ross2019-09-182019-09-182019-09-18https://hdl.handle.net/1794/24881Creativity is made up of originality, flexibility, and tolerance for risk and ambiguity, among other intrapersonal and interpersonal facets. These agile creative skills are critically important to survival and fulfillment in today’s world. During the turbulent developmental period of early adolescence, creative resources may be highly advantageous for healthy development. However, creativity remains an understudied and undervalued part of student preparation in formal K-12 education. Though many of the creative resources that students develop can be cultivated in the classroom, opportunities remain inequitable and rare. National trends in divergent thinking suggest an alarming decline in general creative thinking capacity, especially for younger age groups. Systematic declines could indicate intensifying negative environmental influences that stymie creative development. The current body of research is unclear about how creative resources, such as divergent thinking develop, during early adolescence; however, research does indicate that students’ creative resources play a role in their academic achievement and important motivational factors. This dissertation links the study of adolescents’ creative development, the potential of long-term experience in multi-arts integration to contribute positively to that healthy development, and the role of creative development in preparing students for high school and beyond. This study used group-based trajectory modeling techniques to identify distinct trajectories of creative development during middle school and to analyze how those trajectories are influenced by students’ motivation, engagement, and experiences in school. Results indicate that higher levels of creative development in ideational fluency, flexibility, and originality were influenced by malleable environmental, adaptive, and affective factors. Growth mindset about abilities, flow experiences, higher engagement in school, and less valuing of social conformity were the most consistent predictors. Findings also suggest that higher levels of creative development contributed to higher levels of agentic, academic, creative, and school engagement outcomes at medium to very large effects. Overall, this study contributes new understanding about the factors that support positive creative development in early adolescence as well as new evidence to support the role that creative development plays to prepare early adolescent learners for successful pathways in school and life.en-USAll Rights Reserved.AdolescenceConformityCreative potentialDivergent thinkingGroup-based trajectory modelingSelf-beliefsElectronic Thesis or Dissertation