Social and emotional adjustment of adolescents extremely talented in verbal or mathematical reasoning

Abstract

Perceptions of self-esteem, locus of control, popularity, depression (or unhappiness), and discipline problems as indices of social and emotional adjustment were investigated in highly verbally or mathematically talented adolescents. Compared to a group of students who are much less gifted, the highly gifted students perceive themselves as less popular, but no differences were found in self-esteem, depression, or the incidence of discipline problems. The gifted students reported greater internal locus of control. Comparisons between the highly mathematically talented students and the highly verbally talented students suggested that the students in the latter group perceive themselves as less popular. Within both the gifted and comparison groups, there were also slight indications that higher verbal ability may be related to some social and emotional problems.

Asynchrony:Intuitively valid and theoretically reliable

“…In contrast, same-age placement is de rigueur in education. Repeatedly, acceleration has been found to be an optimal strategy for the intellectually enhanced child, as indicated both by cognitive outcomes (Benbow, 1991;Brody & Benbow, 1986;1987;Cox, Daniel, & Boston, 1985;Gross, 1993;Kulik & Kulik, 1984;Stanley & Benbow, 1983) and on measures of psychosocial adjustment such as peer acceptance and social identity Kulik & Kulik;Richardson & Benbow, 1991;. Nonetheless, it remains poorly supported among educators Southern, Jones, & Ficus, 1989;Start, 1988).…”

The Study of Exceptional Talent

“…The highly mathematically able students were also compared with a group achieving high verbal scores, and were found to experience fewer difficulties with peers than the verbal group. The highly verbally able students were more likely to perceive themselves as unpopular and there were other indications that higher verbal ability may be related to some social and emotional problems (Brody & Benbow, 1986;Dauber & Benbow, 1990).…”

The emotional development of the highly able

“…Not only was a high intelligence a benefit in the popularity stakes, but they concluded that "one can expect that more intelligent children are better social problem-solvers" (p. 186). Brody and Benbow (1986) used American SATs to compare mathematically and verbally high-scoring 13 year-olds with less highly achieving students. Questionnaires about their lives and feelings were mailed to them (response 78%), but the less-able comparison group were only included two years later.…”