Moderate obedience enhances college students' creativity: an exploration based on dual dimension of benefit-avoidance structure and moderating effect of age and marital status

To revise and validate the Obedience Attitude Questionnaire for College Students (OAQ-CS), explore the sociological characteristics of obedience attitude, and preliminarily investigate the impact of obedience attitude on creativity.

Based on WANG Yuchao's 8-item obedience questionnaire, the revision was made according to the characteristics of college students. A cross-sectional observation was conducted on 4200 college students subjected with stratified cluster sampling from 3 institutions in Chongqing (Army Medical University, Chongqing University of Education, and Chongqing University). The participants were surveyed with the OAQ-CS and the College Students' Creativity Assessment Inventory (CSCAI). The obtained data were analyzed with item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability testing. Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test was used to observe the demographic differences of college students' obedience attitudes, Spearman correlation analysis was explored to analyze the correlation between variables, and stratified linear regression analysis was performed to explore the predictive factors of obedience attitude and creativity.

① Item analysis revealed no items requiring deletion. EFA extracted 2 factors: self-interested obedience and harmavoidance obedience. CFA demonstrated good model fit (χ²/df=2.90, RMSEA=0.03, CFI=0.99, IFI=0.99, TLI=0.99). The scale exhibited strong internal consistency reliability (α=0.87 to 0.91). ② College students had high overall propensity for obedience (42.51±9.85, M=46), with harm-avoidance obedience score (21.34±5.48) higher than self-interested obedience score (21.17±5.34). Total obedience attitude and its dimensions showed significant positive correlations with creativity (r_s=0.28 to 0.87, P<0.001). Males and the individuals aged ≤22 years scored higher than their counterparts in females and those aged >22 years individuals in both obedience attitude and its dimensions (all P<0.05). Age (β =-0.21, P<0.001) was a negative predictor of obedience attitude, while male (β=0.06, P<0.001), married (β=0.11, P<0.001), and graduate students (β=0.13, all P<0.001) were positive predictors. Male (β=0.04, P<0.01), graduate students (β=0.05, P<0.05), obedience attitude (β=0.44, P<0.001), and the interaction term between obedience attitude and age (β=0.05, P<0.05) positively predicted creativity, whereas the interaction term between obedience attitude and marital status (β=-0.04, P<0.05) was a negative predictor of creativity.

Our revised OAQ-CS has good reliability and validity. College students display a high obedience tendency. Older individuals exhibit lower obedience and males higher than females. Moderate obedience, encompassing both self-interested and harmavoidance dimensions, is conducive to creativity enhancement.