The Influence of Connectedness to Nature on Young Children’s Creative Personality: A Parallel Mediation Analysis

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among connectedness to nature, cognitive flexibility, psychological resilience, and creative personality in preschool children, and to investigate the parallel mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience in the relationship between connectedness to nature and creative personality. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 592 preschool children aged 3–6 years and their parents from two kindergartens in K City and N City participated. General sociodemographic data were collected, including place of residence, gender, only-child status, parents’ educational level, and children’s age. The Connectedness to Nature Index for Parents of Preschool Children (CNI-PPC), the Dimensional Change Card Sorting Task (DCCS), the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers, Second Edition (DECA-P2), and the Williams Creative Personality Scale for Preschoolers were used to assess connectedness to nature, cognitive flexibility, psychological resilience, and creative personality, respectively. Independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis, and parallel mediation analysis were conducted to test the proposed model. Results: Connectedness to nature was significantly and positively associated with cognitive flexibility, psychological resilience, and creative personality. Cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience were both positively associated with children’s creative personality. Furthermore, cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience each played a significant mediating role in the relationship between connectedness to nature and creative personality. The association between connectedness to nature and creative personality was further explained by the parallel mediating effects of cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience. Conclusions: Connectedness to nature was positively associated with preschool children’s creative personality, both directly and indirectly through cognitive flexibility and psychological resilience. These findings provide empirical evidence for understanding the cognitive and emotional pathways linking nature connectedness and creative personality development in early childhood.