The influence of family upbringing style and locus of control on the creative thinking of preparatory school learners in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the influence of locus of control and upbringing style on creative thinking of preparatory school learners in schools in the United Arab Emirates.

Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following questions: *What is the effect of the family upbringing type (authoritative/authoritarian) on the creative thinking of grade 9 students in schools in the United Arab Emirates?

*What is the effect of the type of locus of control (internal/external) on the creative thinking of grade 9 students in schools in the United Arab Emirates?

*What is the effect of the interrelationships of family upbringing type and locus of control on the creative thinking of grade 9 students in schools in the United Arab Emirates?

Three scales were used in this study:

*The Arabized Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale *Fawzi Abu jabal Scale of family upbringing style *Torrance Tests of creative thinking

In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, a random sample from students in the ninth grade was selected. The sample consisted of (527) male and female students.

In order to examine the questions of the study and to identify the effects of each of these independent variables, along with there interactions on creative thinking; the following statistical techniques were used:

*T-tests *Chi-square tests *Pearson's bivariate and multi-variate correlation *Analysis of variance (222) *Stepwise regression analysis

The findings of this study showed:

*Upbringing style and the locus of control had a significant effect on creative thinking. All differences were in favour of the internal locus of control and the authoritative upbringing style. *Gender had no significant effect on creative thinking. *There were no significant effects for the dual and treble interactions of the independent variables (gender, upbringing style and locus of control) on creative thinking.

The results were interpreted in light of a literature review and the students' socialization practices.