Pedagogical GenAI use and self-reported creative cognition in art education: a three-wave time-lagged correlational study among design students

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used in design education, yet the psychological pathways associated with students' self-reported creative cognition remain unclear. In this three-wave time-lagged correlational study, 389 design students at a South Korean university reported pedagogical GenAI use at Wave 1, creative self-efficacy and AI-related learning anxiety at Wave 2, and creative engagement and self-reported creative cognition at Wave 3. Pedagogical GenAI use referred to coursework-related use for ideation, style exploration, revision, comparison of alternatives, and feedback seeking. Covariance-based structural equation modeling showed good fit [comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.983, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.026]. Higher GenAI use was associated with higher self-efficacy (β = 0.489) and lower anxiety (β = -0.191). The total modeled association with self-reported creative cognition was β = 0.456 [95% CI [0.314, 0.604]]; its indirect components constituted approximately 59%. The GenAI-origin serial indirect association through self-efficacy and engagement was β = 0.122, whereas the corresponding anxiety-engagement association was β = 0.015. Separately, self-efficacy was indirectly associated with creative cognition through engagement (β = 0.249); this quantity does not include the preceding GenAI-use path. Because the study was observational and engagement and cognition were measured concurrently at Wave 3, the findings do not identify causal mediation. They are consistent with an appraisal-to-engagement account in which competence beliefs have a larger modeled role than anxiety reduction.