Social relations of gifted children as a function of age and school program.

Abstract

This study examined social and personal concomitants of exceptional academic capability in the context of various educational settings. Students in Grades 5, 8, and 10 participated in the study. At each grade level, there were students in classes for the gifted (self-contained gifted), gifted students in regular classes (integrated gifted), and classmates of the integrated gifted (matched and random controls). Subjects completed self-report scales of social competence and feelings about school. Peer nominations for social competence were also obtained from children in the integrated classes. The integrated gifted children at all three grade levels had higher scores for academic self-concept than the other groups; there were no differences in social or physical selfconcept. In Grade 5 only, the integrated gifted were rated by their classmates as higher in social competence than were controls. Although there were no significant differences among groups in terms of attitude towards school, feelings toward school became less positive as age increased.

Students with Exceptionalities and the Peer Group Context of Bullying and Victimization in Late Elementary School

“…Because they are socially vulnerable (Frederickson and Furnham 2004;Gresham and MacMillan 1997;Sale and Carey 1995), students with mild disabilities may be susceptible to being bullied and may compensate by bullying others and by affiliating with peers who support this behavior. On the other hand, academically gifted students tend to be fairly well accepted in late elementary school (Austin and Draper 1981;Schneider et al 1989) and may focus more on academics than social prominence. Therefore, while they tend to be socially prominent and associate with peers who teachers view as being popular, academically gifted students do not appear to be vulnerable to being bullied and seem to be relatively less likely to be involved in bullying.…”

“…Preuss and Dubow (2004) found that academically gifted students were more likely to employ active problem-solving approaches to social stressors, and that being academically gifted moderated the impact of stressors on adjustment. Academically gifted students are rated by teachers as having highly positive levels of social skills (Janke and Lee 1991) and during the elementary school years they are likely to experience high levels of social acceptance and low levels of peer rejection (Austin and Draper 1981;Luftig and Nichols 1990;Schneider et al 1989). Academically gifted students are also more likely to have prosocial or popular friends than their non-gifted peers and less likely to be socially isolated (Farmer and Rodkin 1996;Pearl et al 1998;Schneider and Daniels 1992).…”

Affective and motivational considerations in the assessment of gifted learners∗

“…Both Malcolm's and Bradley's profiles illustrate the very real difficulties of some gifted children in finding other children to whom they can relate (Gross, 1993;Robinson & Noble, 1991;Schneider et al, 1989). While high IQ does not necessarily mean adjustment problems (Robinson & Noble, 1991), it can be perceived by others as evidence of maladjustment.…”

“…Personal images of school success and acceptance by peers affect achievement. Research on gifted learners shows that their academic self-concepts are higher than those of average learners and their social self-concepts are about the same (Hoge & Renzulli, 1993;Schneider, Clegg, Byrne, Ledingham, & Crombie, 1989). However, some researchers suggest that individual differences may exist in the ways that gifted children perceive their abilities and social relationships (Friedman, 1992;Hoge & Renzulli, 1993).…”

“…Gifted children's academic self-concepts can suffer when they are placed in appropriately challenging environments (Robinson & Noble, 1991;Schneider et al, 1989). They may need the support necessary for success in demanding academic settings (Janos & Robinson, 1985).…”