Developmental Trajectories of Divergent Thinking in an Examination-Centric Context: Evidence from Bangladesh

In an era of rapid technological advancement, creativity has emerged as a vital 21st-century competency essential for human adaptation and innovation. Divergent thinking—the capacity to generate multiple, unique solutions to open-ended problems—serves as a primary cognitive indicator of creative potential, making the study of its developmental trajectory of substantial educational importance. However, most developmental creativity research has focused on Western populations, leaving non-Western, examination-centric contexts like Bangladesh underrepresented, with limited empirical evidence on integrated socio-educational influences. This study investigated developmental differences in divergent thinking across four age cohorts in Bangladesh while examining key socio-educational predictors of creative performance. A stratified sample of N = 442 participants across four age groups (5–6, 10–11, 15–16, and 20–21 years) completed a standardized figural divergent thinking task measuring Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Elaboration, and a composite Divergent Thinking Score (DTS). Data were analyzed using non-parametric group comparisons, factorial ANOVA, and multiple linear regression in JAMOVI. Results revealed significant developmental differences across age cohorts. Composite DTS, Fluency, Flexibility, and Elaboration exhibited a progressive decline from early childhood to early adulthood. Conversely, Originality displayed a distinct non-monotonic trajectory, peaking during mid-adolescence (15–16 years). Socio-educational analyses indicated that perceived academic pressure and excessive private tutoring were negatively associated with divergent thinking, whereas higher parental education and middle income showed positive associations; institutional school type was non-significant. Regression analysis identified academic pressure as the single strongest negative predictor, with the overall model accounting for 43.7% of the variance. These findings demonstrate a developmental dissociation among creativity sub-dimensions, confirming that divergent thinking follows non-uniform, distinct trajectories. By providing empirical evidence from Bangladesh, this study highlights the detrimental impact of high-stakes examination pressure and offers critical educational implications for supporting multidimensional creativity.