Giftedness and subjective well-being: A study with adults

Wirthwein, Linda; Rost, Detlef H.

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.001

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…As Sekowski and Siekanska (2008, p. 155) note, ''among the numerous publications on the gifted that have appeared within the last 100 years, merely 13-14.2 % deal with adults.'' Wirthwein and Rost (2011a), too, conclude that there is a lack of studies of gifted adults. Of those, only very few have explicitly explored well-being (e.g.…”

Section: Giftedness and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite this common problem of operationalization, most authors agree that high general intelligence is a/the core criterion of intellectual giftedness (e.g. Vock et al 2013;Wirthwein and Rost 2011a). In most cases, individuals with an IQ of at least 130-that is scoring at or above the 98th percentile on a general intelligence test-are labeled as intellectually gifted (Rost 2013).…”

Section: Giftednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults

Pollet

Schnell

2016

J Happiness Stud

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Not much is known today about relationships between giftedness and well-being, particular among adults. The present article examined if highly gifted people manage to live meaningful and happy lives in their adult years. Two aspects of giftedness were taken into account: intellectual giftedness, and academically high achievement. Representatives of both groups were compared with each other and a control group with regard to meaningfulness and subjective well-being, respectively. Furthermore, predictors for both facets of well-being were examined. The sample consisted of 198 Intellectually Gifted, 141 academically High Achievers, and 136 control subjects. Results: High Achievers showed degrees of meaningfulness and subjective well-being that were comparable to those of the control group. The Intellectually Gifted, however, reported significantly lower values in both facets of well-being. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that Intellectually Gifted and High Achievers follow a different path towards meaningfulness and subjective well-being. Among the Intellectually Gifted, generativity is the strongest predictor for meaningfulness, whereas for the High Achievers, meaningful work is most central to their meaningfulness. As regards subjective well-being, selfcompassion was established as the strongest predictor for the Intellectually Gifted, whereas development was the most important predictor for the High Achievers.

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Section: Giftedness and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Giftednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults

Pollet

Schnell

2016

J Happiness Stud

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“…As there is no universally acknowledged definition of giftedness, one frequently used approach to distinguish highly intellectually gifted individuals from the average population is an IQ of at least 130 (e.g., Preckel and Vock 2013;Wirthwein and Rost 2011). An IQ of 130 or higher (M = 100, SD = 15) implies that the individual has reached or surpassed the 98 th percentile in an IQ test and is therefore attributed a higher cognitive ability than 98% of the population (e.g., Bortz 2005;Rost 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notably, there is a lack of empirical research about the lives and what constitutes the needs of gifted adults, their actual achievements and performance, but also their well-being (Dijkstra et al 2012;Lubinski et al 2006;Wirthwein and Rost 2011) and meaning in life (Pollet and Schnell 2017;Vötter and Schnell 2019). The little empirical evidence that is available concerning gifted adults' well-being suggested either no significant association or a weak positive correlation between intelligence and well-being (e.g., Dijkstra et al 2012;Lubinski et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Lagged Analyses Between Life Meaning, Self-Compassion, and Subjective Well-being Among Gifted Adults

Vötter

Schnell

2019

Mindfulness

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Objectives Highly intellectually gifted adults seem to be at a higher risk for existential crisis. However, not much is known about what contributes to their life meaning and/or well-being. This study examined if self-compassion may be a resource leading to a happy and/or meaningful life, or vice versa. Methods Cross-lagged associations between meaningfulness, subjective well-being, and self-compassion were examined. Additionally, we tested for differences concerning these constructs between the gifted and general population. One hundred highly intellectually gifted adults (55% female; mean age 43 ± 9 years) participated in a two-wave (4 years) online study with a cross-lagged design.

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“…In a study of 101 intellectually gifted adults 20 (mean IQ = 136, SD = 8) and 91 adults of average intelligence (mean IQ = 103, SD = 9), all aged 28 years old, Wirthwein and Rost (2011b) examined the subjective well-being of both groups. They found that intellectually gifted adults were neither "happy" nor "unhappy" relative to their peers of average intelligence.…”

Section: Life Goals Satisfaction and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gifted Adults

Rinn

Bishop

2015

Gifted Child Quarterly

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What happens when a gifted child grows up? Educators, parents, researchers, policy makers, and counselors spend a considerable amount of time planning for, and attending to, the educational, cognitive, and socioemotional needs of gifted children, but for what purpose? To ensure the gifted child is adequately intellectually stimulated during childhood and that his or her social and emotional needs are met? Do we also have a bigger end goal? Many in the field of gifted education would argue that we want to prepare gifted children to meet their potential and to be capable, productive, successful, happy, and even eminent (Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, & Worrell, 2011;Subotnik & Rickoff, 2010) adults. But, how do we know gifted education has met these goals? If we accept that gifted education has a larger purpose than the day-to-day activities, projects, and homework assignments that come along with a gifted program, we must also accept that gifted children grow up. "It's not as though these former children slough off their giftedness like discarded skin at the age of sixteen or eighteen or twenty-one. Gifted children do grow up, and they become gifted adults" (Jacobsen, 1999a, p. 9). Yet we know very little about what happens once a gifted individual graduates from high school (Rinn & Plucker, 2004), and even less about what happens when a gifted individual "grows up."Over the past two decades, a number of provocative book titles regarding gifted adults have appeared in mainstream media that attempt to answer some questions about the lives of gifted adults:

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Giftedness and subjective well-being: A study with adults

Cited by 43 publications

References 44 publications

Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults

Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults

Cross-Lagged Analyses Between Life Meaning, Self-Compassion, and Subjective Well-being Among Gifted Adults

Gifted Adults

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