On Being Gifted, but Sad and Misunderstood: Social, emotional, and academic outcomes of gifted students in the Wollongong Youth Study

Abstract

This research examined the relationships among personality factors, social support, emotional wellbeing, and academic achievement in 65 gifted secondary students, a sample drawn from a longitudinal study of over 950 students. The research demonstrated that, compared to their nongifted peers, gifted students had significantly higher academic outcomes for all subject areas except Geography and Physical Education. Teachers rated the gifted students as being welladjusted and less likely to have behavioural or emotional problems than nongifted students. The gifted students, however, reported feeling more sad and less satisfied with their social support than their nongifted counterparts. There were no significant differences in terms of self-esteem, trait hope, problem orientation, or attitudes towards education. Within the gifted sample, the research found that the students who were most likely to get poor grades were those who scored high in psychoticism and low in conscientiousness, trait hope, joviality, and in attitudes towards schools. Interestingly, self-esteem was entirely unrelated to gifted performance.

The Psychological Well-Being of Early Identified Gifted Children

“…Vialle, Heaven, and Ciarrochi (2007) found that gifted secondary school-aged children were less satisfied with their social support than nongifted children, indicating they experienced a lower level of well-being, but that teachers rated gifted children as having fewer emotional or behavioral problems than their nongifted peers. Several other studies found that gifted children experienced a higher level of psychological well-being than their comparable peers in multiple domains (e.g., Bain & Bell, 2004;Litster & Roberts, 2011).…”

Intellectual giftedness: Economic, political, cultural, and psychological considerations

“…There is an implicit convergence on what might need to be assessed in an IG individual, not only to label him or her as gifted, but also boost the probabilities of him/her realizing this IG into true accomplishments by entering a so-called "success cycle," which is characterized by an adequate balance of positive affect towards the domain in which IG is manifested such that the individual exhibits engagement with and persistence in cognitively demanding tasks, resulting in high achievement and success in the domain of IG (Aiken, 1973). In this context, a variety of non-cognitive indicators are typically considered, varying widely, from personality characteristics (Cross, 2008;Vialle, Heaven & Ciarrochi, 2007;Zuo & Tao, 2001) to thinking and learning styles (Cross, 2007;Park, Park & Ho-Seong, 2005;Sak, 2004).…”

Talented Students Satisfaction with the Performance of the Gifted Centers

“…These significant differences among GTS may have a negative impact on the emotional, psychological, and social dimensions in gifted centers. Moreover, Vialle, Heaven, and Ciarrochi (2007) posited that negative feelings toward GTS may be a barrier for these students to make positive friendships with others and may expose them to ridicule and rejection by their peers. Furthermore, Chan (2006) confirmed that GTS may be exposed to social stress related to making friends and stress related to meeting the high expectations of their parents.…”