top
Based on data from a six-year study of over 800 families of academically talented students, the belief that students who are above their peers in academic abilities are below their peers in social abilities, appears to be more of a myth than fact. Academically talented high school students on average felt that they were socially successful and rated themselves as an 8 overall on a scale from 0 (not at all successful) to 10 (very successful). None of the students felt that they were not at all successful and 89 percent of students rated themselves at least as moderately socially successful (i.e., rating higher than a 5). The large majority of students were also happy with their friendships (91%) and happy with the number of friends they had (95%). Ablard, K. E. (2004). The Developmental Study of Talented Youth (DSTY): Six-Year Trends (Tech. Rep. No. 31). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth. top
There has been great focus on the academic achievement and development of our brightest youth. However, relatively little is known about their friendships. In a longitudinal study, academically talented students were asked to provide information about their closest friends. The majority (58%) of students reported that their closest friends were of the same age. Students indicated that they had as many male friends as female friends, with females tending to have slightly more female than male friends. Closest friends were from a variety of places: in students’ classes, in school but not in students’ classes, and/or from extracurricular activities. Ablard, K. E. (2004). The Developmental Study of Talented Youth (DSTY): Six-Year Trends (Tech. Rep. No. 31). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth. top
Based on data from a six-year study of over 800 families of academically talented students, the majority of students were satisfied with physical aspects of themselves. Most students (80%) were satisfied with their physical abilities and this satisfaction was consistently high over a span of six years. Most students (88%) also indicated that they would not change their appearance, although physical appearance was personally important to 82 percent of students. These percentages were consistent over the six-year period. Ablard, K. E. (2004). The Developmental Study of Talented Youth (DSTY): Six-Year Trends (Tech. Rep. No. 31). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth.
Parents of academically talented students have been accused of pushing their children to attain high levels of achievement, as well as fostering performance anxiety and perfectionism in their children. Parents’ achievement goals for their children, in terms of the focus on high performance (performance goal) or learning for understanding (learning goal), were examined in relation to children’s perfectionism. Parents (127 sets) and their sixth-grade academically talented children (56% boys) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and parents reported their achievement goals for their children. Most parents reported learning goals, suggesting that emphasis on meeting external standards is not predominant among parents of talented students. Children of performance goal parents were significantly more likely to exhibit dysfunctional perfectionism than children of learning goal parents, reporting a combination of high concern about mistakes, doubts about actions, parental expectations, and parental criticism. Parents’ achievement goals can help predict which students might be at risk for adjustment problems and future underachievement. Ablard, K. E., & Parker, W. D. (1997). Parents’ achievement goals and perfectionism in their academically talented children. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26, 651-667. Using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, perfectionism scores were compared between a group of 600 students identified as academically talented and a group of 418 peers from the general cohort. In this nationally gathered sample, all students were sixth graders and of similar socioeconomic status. Findings indicated little difference between the mean scores of the two groups. Comparisons were also made between the gifted students and the general cohort using an empirical typology of perfectionism. This analysis did not indicate a statistically significant difference in the frequency of perfectionistic types between gifted students and the general cohort. These findings suggest that the frequent anecdotal reports of greater perfectionism among the gifted may be a product of differential labeling patterns of similar behaviors when demonstrated by gifted students and the general cohort, or may represent a relationship with socio-economic level rather than intellectual level. A greater distinction between perfectionistic strivings which stimulate excellence and those perfectionistic strivings which frustrate and inhibit achievement needs to be made. Parker, W. D., & Mills, C. J. (1996). The incidence of perfectionism in gifted students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40, 194-199. top
Perceptions of self-esteem, locus of control, popularity, depression (or unhappiness), and discipline problems as indices of social and emotional adjustment were investigated in high verbal 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 mathematically talented students and the 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. Brody, L. E., & Benbow, C. P. (1986). Social and emotional adjustment of adolescents extremely talented in verbal or mathematical reasoning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 15, 1-18. The Brief Symptom Inventory was administered to 274 mathematically gifted secondary students identified by a national talent search and enrolled in a summer precalculus program. Results indicated that these students were significantly better adjusted than the adolescent normative group. Parker, W. D. (1994). Psychological adjustment in mathematically gifted students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40, 154-157. top
Approximately 500 CTY and CAA students have been surveyed after the completion of their summer program experience to evaluate the benefits of summer program participation. The vast majority of those students feel very strongly that one of the benefits of participation was that they were able to become friends with other bright students. Due to the fact that CTY students form close friendships during their three-week summer program experience, many students keep in contact throughout the normal academic year. In order to assist students with this correspondence, CTY manages an alumni network where current and former CTY students can keep in touch via email and a listserv. Information concerning the Summer follow-up survey can be found in CTY’s yearly Goldman Sachs Scholars report; an internal document. In 1998, CTY’s Research staff collaborated with an independent researcher to develop a questionnaire that was subsequently completed by a group of 192 students in CTY’s summer programs. Of these students, 90% reported that the most positive aspect of their experience at CTY was making friends of equal ability and with similar interest. In addition, 75% of the students reported that (for the first time) they experienced a “sense of belonging.” Jessamy Hoffmann & Carol Mills (1998). Student Perception Questionnaire, CTY Internal Evaluation Report. top
Collapsing data from several independent studies, clear personality differences were found for several hundred academically talented students when compared to a general population of same age students. On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the academically talented students differed significantly from the comparison group on all four psychological type dimensions. Specifically, the academically talented group expressed greater preferences for introversion, intuition, and thinking. Although there were more judging types in this group than in the comparison group, overall, more academically talented students expressed a preference for a perceptive style. They also tended to be higher on achievement motivation and lower on interpersonal and social concerns. In particular, a cognitive style that emphasizes thinking over feeling appears to mediate gender differences in mathematics ability and achievement. Mills, C. J. (1993). Personality, learning style and cognitive style profiles of mathematically talented students. European Journal for High Ability, 4, 70-85. top
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was administered to 1247 gifted adolescents from the United States and a comparable sample of 309 gifted Irish adolescents, all of whom were attending summer programs for the academically talented. Strikingly similar patterns of cognitive and psychological styles were found for the gifted students in both Ireland and the U.S. These patterns are quite different than those found in normative samples of U.S. students. The most consistent finding was that the majority of gifted students score highly on N (Intuition), indicative of a preference for the abstract and theoretical. This is in contrast to studies showing the majority of U.S. students from the general population have a preference for the factual and pragmatic. Many of the gifted students from both societies showed preferences for modes of thinking and learning that may be at odds with typical instruction styles. Implications for educational practices and policy are suggested. Mills, C. J., & Parker, W. D. (1998). Cognitive-psychological profiles of gifted adolescents from Ireland and the U.S.: Cross-societal comparisons. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22(1), 1-16. top
Although there are clear differences between academically talented adolescents and a normative group of students, it is important to remember that there are also strong within-group differences. Students exhibit all possible types of cognitive style, as assessed by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. More specifically, the mathematically talented students with high verbal scores are those students with the strongest preference for introversion and intuition. Introverts with an intuitive preference tend to use their minds in a way that is advantageous for dealing with the intricacies of thought and language. On the other hand, the mathematically talented students with the lowest verbal scores had the largest number of sensing types and almost 70 percent of them were thinking types. Sensing-thinking types tend to prefer impersonal, logical analysis with an emphasis on facts; they tend to be practical and matter-of-fact. We may find that individual differences such as these are related to “how” an individual uses and develops his/her ability. Mills, C. J. (1993). Personality, learning style and cognitive style profiles of mathematically talented students. European Journal for High Ability, 4, 70-85. top
In a longitudinal follow-up study of 124 young persons between the ages of 24 and 26 years of age who had been identified as academically talented as seventh graders, personality factors were found to be related to long-term, high-level achievement in the fields of mathematics and the sciences. This was particularly true for highly talented young women, who were more likely to possess the psychological preferences of talented young men when compared to normative samples. Mills, C. J. (1997). Gender differences in math/science achievement: The role of personality variables. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the Eastern Educational Association, Feb. 1997, Hilton Head, South Carolina. See Topical Series #2 and Topical Series #3 integrating some of the above research. Last updated 8/8/2008 | 
