Childhood creativity and neuro-diversity: autistic traits and creative traits in the general population

My PhD investigates the link between autistic traits and creativity in children aged 6-14 years, a largely unexplored area of research. Autistic traits can be defined as traits usually associated with autism, but here I explore them as they present (from mild to severe) across the general population. Autistic traits include a broad range of social and communication differences (e.g., in empathy), sensory sensitivities (hyper and hypo-sensitivities), unusual behaviours (e.g., repetitive behaviours), and perceptual benefits (e.g., high attention to detail). We know that non-autistic children with higher autistic traits share co-occurring traits with autistic children (e.g., mental health issues). Yet we know very little about the links between these traits and other outcomes such as creativity. This thesis therefore aims to fill this gap in the research, and to add valuable knowledge on the profile of children with autistic traits within the general population. The thesis presents four studies as journal-type articles. In the first two (Chapters 2, 3) I develop novel measures of autistic traits (for empathy, sensory sensitivities) for normative childhood samples (600+). Although there are a numerous questionnaires aimed at autistic populations, few are designed to measure autistic traits as they appear across the general population. These measures reflect the complexity of the traits through developing multidimensional measures, using factor analytic and clustering techniques. In the last two articles (Chapters 4, 5) I used these measures, as well as an established autistic trait measure (the Autism Spectrum Quotient) to examine the link between autistic traits and creative outcomes. The analyses revealed a complex pattern of associations, dependent on the autistic trait and the creative outcome I examined. I found both positive and negative associations with autistic trait expression (as well as null effects, e.g., creative inclinations), with certain autistic traits linked to lower creativity (e.g., social-communication differences) and others higher creativity (e.g., attention to detail).