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This is a letter from the editor discussing the articles in the current issue of Journal for the Education of the Gifted (JEG) . In the first article the authors proffer a metaphoric representation of the field of gifted education. In the second article, the authors investigated the effects of an affective curriculum on multiple dimensions of perfectionism among gifted students in middle school. The third article for this issue of JEG offers a study that is groundbreaking as it is the very first psychological autopsy of the suicide of a gifted female. In the fourth article, the author conducted a study in an educational setting where giftedness is not officially recognized to explore intellectually gifted students. The fifth article utilizes a qualitative research approach to investigate "the phenomenon of selective achievement by examining the experiences of two gifted university males." The final article in this issue offers a fascinating glimpse into multigenerational giftedness. It includes perceptions of giftedness across three generations of one family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Raising happy, successful children is a goal of every parent of gifted children. In On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children, the nation's leading authority on the psychology of gifted children offers advice and encouragement for both parents and teachers. In a thoughtful, conversational style, the author offers an in-depth look at the complex social and emotional issues faced by gifted children. This revised and updated fourth edition of the popular text contains more than 10 new chapters, featuring contributions by scholars on gifted children's development from across the nation. On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children tackles important and timely issues dealing with the social and emotional needs of today's gifted children, including who gifted children are and what giftedness means; how parents, teachers, and counselors can guide gifted children; the issues facing gifted students in the 21st century such as technology and terrorism; and how the education of gifted children can adapt for the future. This concise, sensitive look at gifted children and their social and emotional world offers unique insights for both teachers and parents who support these special children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: cover)

In this response to Sternberg’s (see record 2018-07419-003) article, “ACCEL: A New Model for Identifying the Gifted,” we agree that IQ testing may have outlasted its usefulness as an identification tool for gifted students. The field’s commitment to an imperfect formula has neglected the evolution of offerings in schools and theoretical underpinnings that are moving us away from an outdated conception of giftedness. IQ testing should be reserved for finding specific forms of high ability and as a diagnostic tool, not as a gatekeeper that continues to perpetuate the underrepresentation of some groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This article discusses the school-based conception of giftedness (SCG). The development of human potential occurs in a vast array of settings across the world. In the United States, in addition to the options of both public and private schools, parents home school their children and send them to academic summer programs, often resulting in able students developing to a point of extraordinary accomplishment. Some talents are typically developed early in life, whereas others manifest much later. Some talents are developed entirely outside of school, whereas others are developed in schools to a considerable extent. Some talents are in domains that schools have key roles in developing, others may have no direct relationship to a school’s curriculum. Given the limited resources and dominion of schools, we set out to create a conception of giftedness that is situated in schools. SCG clarify what talents schools can and cannot be expected to develop. The SCG will allow for clearer communication among educators, administrators, and school boards about the role and responsibilities of our schools in developing talent. Giftedness is a combination of advanced development and creativity. It is developmental in nature in that it begins as potential evolves into achievement within recognizable domains during the school years, and becomes increasingly advanced through the nonuniversal development of the individual. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

The paper explores the question of how gifted and talented adolescents experience being gifted in high school. Fifteen subjects were interviewed twice while attending a special summer program in order to answer this general question. The data were analyzed and interpreted using a set of research questions which postulated that the subjects would voice feelings of difference and would make statements indicating recognition that being gifted interfered with full social acceptance. The results support the notion that many, but not all, gifted and talented adolescents experience giftedness as a social handicap. The data also suggested that some students manage information about themselves to minimize their visibility as gifted students to others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Meeting the needs of the gifted student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires addressing both conditions. Education professionals are in a unique position to begin this process by referring the student to school specialists for evaluation. However, diagnostic confusion surrounding autism, misconceptions about special education, varying conceptions of giftedness, and overlapping behaviors of giftedness and ASD can inhibit education professionals' ability to recognize unique behaviors of gifted students with ASD, and make appropriate referrals, placing the student at academic risk. Autism and giftedness have been studied separately in the fields of education and psychology for more than half a century. Although the study of giftedness with ASD has begun to increase in recent years, no empirical study to date has focused on education professionals who successfully referred this student population for specialized services. The present mixed methods study examined perceptions and experiences of education professionals who successfully referred gifted students with ASD for specialized services. Survey research probed training, experience, and credentials, as well as perceptions about twice exceptionality. Semi-structured interviews investigated observed behaviors prompting their student's referral for specialized services, experiences with their gifted students with ASD, and evidence they found influential in identifying their student as gifted. These elements combined to provide not only a conceptualization of the gifted student with ASD, but a conception of the education professional who worked with them. The results of this study will inform research, pre-service coursework, and professional development in meeting the needs of this special population of gifted student. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The chapters in Parts 1 and 2 of this book provide considerable detail about myriad approaches to quantitative and mixed method research designs and important issues to consider when using those designs. The authors build a compelling case for the importance of using those designs in moving the research base in gifted studies toward greater sophistication. The first author’s awareness of the need to enhance the literature base by incorporating increasingly sophisticated research approaches crystallized in November 1997 at the National Association of Gifted Children conference just after a symposium on research methodology had ended, when Laurence J. Coleman, Michael Pyryt, and I stood talking about the session. I asked Michael if he thought the field of gifted studies was ready to move in a postpositivistic direction. As he was known to do, he thought about what I had asked him and carefully responded with his own question: “How can the field of gifted studies become postpositivistic when our research base is still prepositivistic?” That was Michael’s way of critiquing our field as being reliant on too many studies that were theoretically unsound and poorly conducted. The symposium had emphasized the epistemological and ontological assumptions of qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Arguments were made during the session for the utility of both approaches, but with an emphasis being placed on the limitations of each in terms of the nature of the research questions that can and cannot be addressed by either. While few academics these days still question the usefulness of either quantitative or qualitative research (see Capraro & Thompson, 2008; Larabee, 2003), what Michael did in few words was summarize the research in the field of gifted studies circa 1997. This book is intended to be both a catalyst and a primer for future research in gifted studies to help us move from prepositivistic to positivistic and postpositivistic approaches. Michael would be pleased. In this chapter, we describe the various research approaches we have utilized over the years, including both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Other chapters in this volume have provided fodder for additional discussions about our research. As a result of the ideas generated by our fellow authors in this volume, we propose an enhancement to our existing research through the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) as described by Kline in chapter 7 of this volume. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

A study of the effects of schooling on the social cognition of gifted adolescents is reported. A student attitude questionnaire (SAQ) exploring the cognitive behavioral strategies utilized to manage the stigma of giftedness was developed after conducting phenomenological interviews of fifteen gifted adolescents attending the Tennessee Governor’s Schools (Coleman & Cross, 1988). The questionnaire asked subjects to respond to six scenarios described as potentially stigmatizing events during the normal school day. Five common strategies noted during the interviews were provided as options in each of the scenarios. The data reported herein are based on the responses of 1,465 students over a two-year period. The patterns of responses suggested that gifted adolescents utilize the five strategies to differing degrees across situations. Situations most closely associated with test performance seemed to elicit the greatest variation in coping strategies, while those primarily reflecting social situations showed a consistently narrow range of strategies. The “placate” coping strategy was the most frequently used across the school-based scenarios. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Social coping and self-concept were explored among Irish ( n = 115) and American ( n = 134) grades 3–8 students. Denying one’s giftedness or the impact it has on peer relationships were associated with poor self-concept in both samples. Among Irish students, denying giftedness was associated with more positive self-concept when paired with a high activity level. Engaging in many activities in the US sample and helping one’s peers in the Irish sample were positive predictors of academic self-concept. Findings suggest young gifted students may benefit from learning more about their exceptional abilities and their impact on peers. They should also be encouraged to engage in extracurricular activities and find ways to use their exceptional abilities to support their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The purpose of this chapter is not to catalog research on individual social or emotional traits associated with gifted individuals; such summaries will be found in subsequent chapters. Rather, it is to offer a survey of theoretical frameworks through which those traits can be more effectively understood and addressed. The following section highlights several theories of social or emotional development that have found use in recent years among gifted educators, as well as recent research drawing on those frameworks. It is not a comprehensive list, but it represents a cross-section of popular acceptance, recent development, and depth of application. The greater intent is to demonstrate how placing traits of giftedness in a theoretical context can help us formulate better service. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

During a late summer morning in the Midwest, the mother of a 16-year-old gifted student received a phone call telling her that her son was just found hanging from the eaves above the bus stop at their local high school. It was later discovered from his journal entries that he had planned this event for months. The death of a young person is a terrible thing; but the death of a young person by suicide is a calamity for humankind. This scenario, with different actors, repeats itself every day in the United States and students with gifts and talents (SWGT) and their families are not immune to this devastating outcome. During the 2014–2015 school year, a total of 26 students died by suicide in two high-achieving school districts in the United States (Palo Alto Unified School District in California and Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia), and at two universities (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and College of William and Mary). Several suicides among top students in a short period creates many questions about links between giftedness and suicidal behavior. The belief that SWGT are more prone to emotional disturbance is widely held (Coleman & Cross, 2005). Two perspectives have been offered to describe the relationship between giftedness and psychological well-being: (a) The nature of giftedness makes these students more resilient to psychological maladies, and (b) their characteristics make them more subject to adjustment issues (J. Delisle, 1986; Neihart, 1999). Coleman and Cross (2000) offered a third position: American subcultures create environments that can affect the lived experience of SWGT and, subsequently, their psychological well-being. This chapter explores the research on suicide among SWGT and applicable research from the general population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter discusses the promotion of optimal mind-sets among gifted children. Students need to hear the message that effort increases their ability. Discussing the developmental nature of giftedness and the maleability of the brain with students helps to promote this message. Equally important is the mind-set parents and teachers hold, as well as the ways they encourage students to excel. The key is to separate the recognition of the talent from the attribution for how the talent came to fruition. Challenging curriculum supports growth mind-sets. When work is not challenging, gifted students earn good grades without putting forth substantial effort. Researchers and practitioners have speculated on the possible negative effects of being able to earn high grades with limited effort, and a fixed mind-set may be one of them. A challenging curriculum helps students learn to recover from setbacks and understand the importance of effort. Having a mind-set that does not foster coping with setbacks inhibits the movement from ability to eminence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The material in this chapter results from a comprehensive review of the scientific literature in psychology that draws from these five views of giftedness and talent development as well as research on expertise, high performance, creativity, motivation, and human development. The outcome of the Subotnik et al. analysis is a framework that includes the following central points: (a) giftedness is not static but maleable and needs to be developed; (b) it is more useful to consider giftedness as domain specific rather than global; (c) psychosocial skills play an outsize role in optimal development; and (d) the desired outcome of gifted education is to provide the skills, knowledge, and opportunities needed for talent to be developed to optimal levels of performance or creative productivity at each phase, which includes eminence for those individuals who wish to and are able to pursue that goal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The phenomenon of social coping among students with gifts and talents (SWGT) is not well understood. In interviews with elementary-, middle-, and high-school aged SWGT ( N = 90; 50% female) from the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Ireland, and France, the universality of awareness of visibility of their exceptional abilities, high expectations and pressure to achieve from adults and peers, and peer jealousy and rejection, was confirmed. In all countries, SWGT were concerned about peers’ upward social comparison and the effects of their outperformance on peers’ feelings. SWGT attempted to hide their abilities or conform to peers’ behaviors. Prosocial helping behaviors were found among SWGT in nearly all age groups and a focus on the self was a useful coping strategy to students in all countries except France. Parallels are drawn between these findings and stigma theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)