All You Need Is Love: The Importance of Partner and Family Relations to Highly Creative Individuals’ Well‐Being and Success

Abstract

The aim of the article was to investigate how the family life of highly creative individuals—mainly marriages or romantic relationships—is related to their sense of success and well‐being. Previous studies have led to conflicting conclusions. The predominant finding has been that marriage and family constitute an obstacle to creative potential development. Other studies have demonstrated that, regardless of gender, creators lead satisfying family lives, which contributes to their well‐being. The study presented in this paper is based on the grounded theory methodology and triangulates two sources: interviews with prominent creators from the USA conducted years ago (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, N = 91) and interviews with recognized contemporary Polish artists and scientists (N = 34). Based on interactions between the interviewees’ perception of themselves as creators and their perception of gender and family roles, the authors identify and discuss five types of relationship between creators’ family life and work. They also discuss the factors that hinder or facilitate creators’ satisfactory functioning in both areas in each of the five types of relationship.

Parents’ Creative Self-Beliefs and Creative Activity as Predictors of Family Lifestyle

“…An indirect link between creative self-image and family life was also presented in the qualitative analysis of eminent creators' experience. It has been shown that beliefs about the importance of creativity in one's life and perceiving creator's role are primarily related to how highly creative people fulfill family roles (Lebuda & Csikszentmihalyi, 2020). However, this research mainly focused on the role of being a spouse or a partner, less so on being a parent.…”

„I nie powiem, żeby to były jakieś takie spotkania z Mistrzami”: relacje z innymi przedstawicielami dziedziny a rozwój zawodowy w narracjach polskich reżyserek

“…Narratorki zwracały uwagę na dwa typy zainteresowań rozwijanych w szkole średniej: artystycznych i/lub humanistycznych (związanych z kształtowaniem gustu literackiego, muzycznego, nabywaniem wiedzy o kulturze) (por. Ślęzak 2009;Całek 2012Całek , 2013Okraj, Modrzejewska-Świgulska 2018;Okraj 2017;Lebuda, Csíkszentmihályi 2018).…”

“…W literaturze podkreśla się niejednoznaczny charakter relacji przyszłych twórców z autorytetami -mistrzami w danej dziedzinie -wzmacniający i inspirujący, jednocześnie emocjonalnie trudny. Zwykle jednak opisuje się pozytywny wpływ mentorów i wzorów osobowych na rozwój talentu, planowanie kariery, wprowadzenie do środowiska oraz uwrażliwianie na formalne i nieformalne zasady rządzących wybraną dziedziną twórczości (Simonton 2010;Gardner 1993;Galenson 2009;Całek 2012;Okraj 2017;Lebuda, Csíkszentmihályi 2018). Spotkanie z autorytetem i jego sposobem myślenia Krzysztof J. Szmidt określa jako "doniosłe spotkanie", bowiem krystalizuje dalszy rozwój zawodowy, "otwiera drzwi do świata nowych wartości i aktywności" (Szmidt 2019: 68).…”

Creativity in Adulthood

“…In a large (N = 125), qualitative study of established creators' family relations,Lebuda and Csikszentmihalyi (2020), provided a typology of creators based on two criteria: their identity as creators and perception of family roles. It resulted in five categories.…”

“…Finally, the fifth and last type is non-stop creators -people who are entirely devoted to creative work and define family-roles in a flexible way. These people often cooperate with their partners who also engage in creativity.ADULTHOOD 15WhatLebuda and Csikszentmihalyi (2020) demonstrate are different ways of how the family relationships may build creative peoples' well-being, but also identify the kinds of tensions and threats for mental functioning and creative activity it provides. Contrary to a widespread belief, the authors show that professionally creative people are not lonely wolves and family plays a crucial role in their functioning.…”