The impact of gender on socio-motor creativity during adolescence: An underestimated variable in physical education?

Abstract

Problem statement : There is a global consensus admitting that creativity is an important asset for performance in sports and physical education (PE). It is also acknowledged by multivariate framework studies that intrapersonal characteristics such as motivation or empathy strongly impact motor behavior and creativity at school. However, gender, especially during adolescence, is a variable that has scarcely been discussed in relation to motor creativity performance in social settings. If work surrounding gender and creativity are often inconclusive, this work aims to provide some data on how gender constructs may impact motor performance. Approach: Our experimental population was composed of three groups of 20 adolescents (60 students in total; 31 girls and 29 boys), aged 12 years old. In alignment with the multivariate framework, socio-motor creativity was measured using praxical communication tools and protocols to establish fluency and flexibility levels. Then, a multifactor correspondence analysis (MCA) was conducted for data analysis by using the Trideux.cloud calculator. Purpose: Our study wishes to show how motor behavior can be influenced by gender in socio-motor settings in PE during adolescence. We also wish to underline the importance of socio-motor settings in the aim to encompass motor creativity in a more global way. Hence, this work aims to catalyze a change of perspective in assessing socio-motor creativity in PE, in hopes for a more efficient and inclusive motor development for adolescence. Results : MCA results indicate a strong relationship between gender and socio-motor performance in PE. A Pearson correlation calculation also showed a strong relationship with r= 0.852. Moreover, it appears that girls, in particular, show weaker socio-motor creativity scores while boys tend to achieve the best sociomotor performance results. This underlines that being creative in socio-motor contexts tends to be strongly gender-dependent. Discussion and conclusion : This study provides one of the first direct insights into the relationship between gender and socio-motor creativity in socio-motor settings. Although many studies report inconclusive results regarding gender and it’s link to creativity, our findings using the socio-motor framework support the idea that gender is a variable that influences motor creativity. Therefore, the implications of our study advocates that in order to fully assess motor creativity, socio-motor settings must be encompassed. Moreover, our results suggest that gender, especially at adolescence, is a variable that may explain motor disparities between adolescents in socio-motor settings. Our data on gender also enriches findings regarding the multivariate framework and suggests that more in-depth research on socio-motor creativity and gender are needed to benefit motor development and well-being for adolescents in PE.