Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec:46:101190.
doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2022.101190. Epub 2022 Nov 9.

Adolescent technology-use and creative activities during COVID-19: A qualitative study

Lauren M Zaeske  1 , Taylor P Harris  1 , Amanda Williams  1 , Haiying Long  1 , Barbara A Kerr  1 , Maxwell Birdnow  1
Affiliations

Adolescent technology-use and creative activities during COVID-19: A qualitative study

Lauren M Zaeske et al. Think Skills Creat. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

This study investigated how COVID-19 impacted creative adolescent engagement with their creative activities, as well as how they utilized technology to cope with the pandemic. Using qualitative methods, this study was guided by phenomenology using both constructivist and transformative paradigms. Participants were English-speaking adolescents from the Midwest in the United States. They were identified as creative by their teachers according to known creative profiles and were invited to attend an all-day creative career workshop over Zoom, where the focus groups occurred for this study. Five focus groups, consisting of 25 participants, were conducted, guided by semi-structured interviews. The transcripts from the focus groups were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis by the first, second, and third authors. Results indicated that COVID-19 affected creative adolescent engagement with creative activities in positive and negative ways, caused changes in emotions and motivation, and increased virtual creative engagement. Creative adolescents coped with COVID-19 using digital technology to connect with others virtually, to engage in virtual creative expression, inspiration, and growth, and to meet their personal needs. Implication of results is discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Creative activities; Creative adolescents; Qualitative design; Technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no known conflict of interest.

References

    1. Amabile T.M., Collins M.A., Conti R., Phillips E., Picariello M., Ruscio J., Whitney D. Routledge; 2018. Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity.
    1. Braun V., Clarke V. SAGE; 2013. Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners.
    1. Braun V., Clarke V. Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern-based qualitative analytic approaches. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. 2021;21(1):37–47. doi: 10.1002/capr.12360. - DOI
    1. Braun V., Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2006;3(2):77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa. - DOI
    1. Cauberghe V., Van Wesenbeeck I., De Jans S., Hudders L., Ponnet K. How adolescents use social media to cope with feelings of loneliness and anxiety during COVID-19 lockdown. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 2021;24(4):250–257. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2020.0478. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources