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Adolescents' (N = 272) psychological changes were examined at a residential academy for gifted junior and senior high school students in the Midwest. The School-Based Conception of Giftedness (Coleman & Cross, 2005) was drawn on to understand how school environment influences student development. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to inform the study. Outcome measurement data from the Youth Outcome Questionnaire Self-Report 2.0 (YOQ-SR) tracked students' level of psychological distress over the course of an academic year. Using Latent Growth Curve Model (LGM) analysis, the initial level of distress did not impact how students' stress levels changed over time. The results indicated a strong negative correlation (r =-.884) between the slope and quadratic change; meaning, the more a students' level of stress increased the more rapidly they were able to reduce it over time. Overall, the change in stress formed an inverted-U shape, as students adapted to the challenges of the school. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 9 senior students with a wide range of YOQ-SR scores at the beginning of their junior year. Four categories emerged from the interviews about student experiences at the academy: Psychological Changes, Academic Adjustment, Social Adjustment and Social Comparison. In essence, when participating in the academy, students experienced advanced personal development, improved management skills and developed a sense of readiness for college. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This study examined perceptions of administrators and kindergarten teachers regarding kindergarten giftedness. The study looked at whether administrators and teachers believe kindergarten students can be gifted; whether their schools and districts have policies in place to identify those students; and whether they are required to vary the curriculum for these students. All elementary-school administrators and kindergarten teachers in North Carolina were invited to participate in the study. The survey respondents consisted of 127 administrators and 260 kindergarten teachers. The data concluded that although 98% of respondents believe kindergarten students can be gifted, almost 70% of their schools and districts do not currently have a process in place to identify those students. The results also indicated that the majority of kindergarten teachers and administrators agreed that identification of giftedness in kindergarten is not detrimental to a student's future development. Further results showed no relationship between classroom practices of teachers required to alter the curriculum for students perceived as gifted and those who were not required to alter it. In addition, the research identified the practices of teachers who believe that kindergarten students can be gifted. The resulting implications and recommendations are also included. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The underrepresentation of minority and low socioeconomic students has been an issue in gifted education for many years. Barriers related to poverty, cultural differences, linguistic differences, and deficit orientation in school systems are just a few possible causes of underrepresentation. This study examined the effects of a talent development program on the number of students qualifying for the gifted program as well as the effect the talent program had on motivation of participants. Additionally, this study considered the effect that teacher attitude had on gifted referral rates for students after professional development sessions on gifted characteristics. The talent development experience benefited regular classroom teachers in understanding how to recognize potential giftedness in students from diverse backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Project LOGgED ON was a project supported by the U.S. Department of Education that maintained two initiatives, a.) to provide online case based professional development for teachers in gifted education, b.) to provide online advanced science curriculum for underserved gifted students. For the purposes of this study, the author will examine the data provided from the professional development component. The project has worked with 554 regular classroom teachers in both urban and rural locations. This paper will examine self-reported outcomes in the online case based professional development courses, similarities across and differences between participants who completed courses and those participants who dropped out of a course and participant satisfaction with the online course sequence. The researcher examines both survey data from Completers and Non-completers and qualitative data provided by the archived discussion forums and email conversations. The research addresses the success of the courses in increasing teacher knowledge about gifted education and the degree to which teacher perceptions of giftedness reflected a broadened conception of giftedness and appropriate means of addressing gifted students' needs. The results indicate online professional development in gifted education is a viable option for reaching classroom teachers in order to increase their knowledge of gifted, broaden their perceptions of gifted, and increase their classroom inclusion of best practices in gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Within the gifted community, the common wisdom is that one must find a therapist who understands the intrapersonal, social, and cultural experiences of being highly intelligent. Without this understanding, informal reports suggest that miscarriages of the therapeutic working alliance may be frequent, and that clients may avoid or leave therapy as a result. However, few therapists or researchers acknowledge intelligence as a dimension of human difference which could be relevant to therapy, or how their own relational selves might be affected by the prospect of doing this work. The specialist literature in the field of giftedness rarely includes consideration of mainstream psychological theories. Thus, little is widely known about how to effectively engage these clients, and there are few opportunities for therapists to recognize when they are making mistakes or to develop competence with this group. This study used a consensual qualitative research model (Hill, Thompson, & Nutt-Williams, 1997), in an attempt to connect these two areas of the literature. Individuals who self-identify as gifted and who have previously been clients in individual or family therapy were asked to describe their felt experiences of the alliance, helpful or unhelpful therapist behaviors, and how the course of therapy may have been affected. The responses were analyzed thematically and interpreted through the lenses of the specific literature on giftedness and mainstream psychological theories. Respondents in this study described their intelligence as having pervasive effects on their lives, the material they wished to explore in therapy, and the therapeutic relationship itself. Substantial connections to the theoretical literature on trauma and object relations were considered in relational context. Additionally, the data permitted some exploration of the general question of whether some differences between therapist and client may be too great to bridge. Finally, a set of provisional clinical guidelines for working with gifted clients was developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychologists working in the schools have an opportunity to affect in new and exciting ways the services they provide to high-ability students. A talent development framework offers a unique lens through which gifted services is conceptualized. The framework moves school psychologists beyond viewing giftedness and high IQ as synonymous to appreciating how talent in specific domains is identified, nurtured, and developed over time. In this framework, an appreciation for nonintellectual skills such as motivation, drive, and playfulness is viewed as important and complementary to high academic and cognitive ability. School psychologists can assume a leadership role in affecting gifted services in a variety of areas, including the following: assessment, consultation, counseling, collaboration, and work with high-ability students with coexisting disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This article is a mixed-methods exploration of the levels of stereotypic views about gifted individuals held by current and future educators. Because educators are often asked to provide recommendations for participation in gifted programs, it is important to determine whether those recommendations are based, in part, on stereotypic thinking. Stereotypic views held by educators could bias the selection of participants for gifted programs, preventing students from receiving appropriate gifted educational services. Participants were volunteer undergraduate ( n = 91) and graduate ( n = 20) education majors. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted to determine both the levels of stereotypic thinking within each group as well as differences in levels of stereotypic thinking between groups. Results suggest both preservice and in-service teachers hold stereotypical thoughts about the gifted in multiple areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The concept of “overexcitability” has recently become popular within the field of giftedness and talent research. Some authors argue that overexcitability questionnaires can be used to identify gifted/talented individuals. A sample of intellectually gifted adults ( n =96; mean age: 31.4; SD =0.3) was compared to a sample of adults of average intelligence ( n =91; mean age: 31.4; SD =0.4). Additionally, a sample of 123 high achievers (mean age=30.5; SD =0.3) was compared to 97 average achievers (mean age: 30.5; SD =0.3). The “Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two” was used to assess emotional, imaginational, intellectual, psychomotor, and sensual overexcitability. The gifted adults scored statistically significantly higher on “intellectual overexcitability” (d =.42). High and average achievers differed statistically significantly in “intellectual overexcitability” ( d =.56) and “sensual overexcitability” ( d =.32). For the giftedness sample, the accuracy of group membership prediction (gifted/non-gifted) via discriminant analyses was 60.4%. For the performance sample, the accuracy was 63.4%. The observed differences in the overexcitabilities were small; the risk of misclassification is too big to attempt to identify gifted or high achieving adults solely on the basis of overexcitability scores. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This research examined the advocacy experiences of 16 parents of adolescents and young adults who had been assessed as intellectually gifted. The purpose was to determine the applicability of the four dimensions of advocacy to their experiences (awareness, information seeking, presenting the case, and monitoring). Participants responded to a questionnaire and 14 also participated in individual interviews. The parents advocated individually to have their own children identified as intellectually gifted, to have them placed in specific programs, and, in the case of a dual diagnosis, to have accommodations written in the Individual Education Plans. It was also found that their experiences could be categorized according to the dimensions of advocacy and that there was a process involving a series of key events that triggered activities associated with each dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The current study investigated differences in metacognition between high school gifted ( n=44) and typical ( n=23) students and examined local calibration accuracy as a potential mechanism for partially explaining superior exam performance by gifted students. Metacognition was measured using student self-reports of metacognitive awareness, acquired at the start of a semester-long course on biology, and students’ global (pre- and posttest) and local (item-by-item) confidence judgments to assess monitoring across four biology exams over the course of one semester. Gifted students outperformed typical students on both local and global postdictive measures of calibration. However, there were no statistically significant differences in global predictive judgments or calibration bias. Local, item-by-item calibration accuracy partially mediated the relation between giftedness and exam performance. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This study surveyed 1,234 empirical studies on giftedness, gifted education, and creativity during 1998–2010 (April), using PsycINFO database and targeted journals as main sources, with respect to main topics these studies focused on, methods they used for investigation, and the conceptual spaces they traversed. Four main research topics emerged from the survey: creativity/creatively gifted, achievement/underachievement, identification, and talent development. Rich and broad conceptual spaces linking these four categories to their psychological underpinnings and educational implications have been explored by this body of research, though the conceptual spaces are still too loosely organized to be seen as paradigmatic. Several prominent trends are identified, including the emergent qualitative studies (accounting for a quarter of the total studies) and the dominance of descriptive (comparative and correlational) research. Although most psychosocial studies are conducted in the context of gifted education, there still seems to be a gap between theory and practice, between psychological understanding of gifted development and promoting such development through education. More systematic, sustainable programs of research and more coordination among researchers are warranted to move the field forward. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Adolescence is a period of development particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol use, with recent studies underscoring alcohol’s effects on adolescent brain development. Despite the alarming rates and consequences of adolescent alcohol use, gifted adolescents are often overlooked as being at risk for early alcohol use. Although gifted adolescents may possess protective factors that likely inhibit the use of alcohol, some gifted youth may be vulnerable to initiating alcohol use during adolescence as experimenting with alcohol may be one way gifted youth choose to compensate for the social price (whether real or perceived) of their academic talents. To address the dearth of research on alcohol use among gifted adolescents the current study (a) examined the extent to which gifted adolescents use alcohol relative to their nongifted peers and (b) examined the adjustment profile of gifted adolescents who had tried alcohol relative to nongifted adolescents who tried alcohol as well as gifted and nongifted abstainers. More than 300 students in seventh grade (42.5% gifted) participated in the present study. Results indicated gifted students have, in fact, tried alcohol at rates that do not differ from nongifted students. Although trying alcohol was generally associated with negative adjustment, giftedness served as a moderating factor such that gifted students who had tried alcohol were less at risk than their nongifted peers. However, evidence also suggests that gifted adolescents who tried alcohol may be a part of a peer context that promotes substance use, which may place these youth at risk for adjustment difficulties in the future. Putting the Research to Use: This research demonstrates that a fruitful line of future research would focus on examining the potential mechanisms underlying alcohol use among gifted youth. Individual differences with regard to endorsing a high desirability of gaining social acceptance or fitting in with non-gifted peers or distancing oneself from a “gifted” image may explain why some gifted students use alcohol and others do not. Until the underlying reasons of alcohol use/experimentation among gifted adolescents are better understood and researched further, it is not clear whether current prevention and intervention programs are effective for this subgroup of adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Studies on the well-being of gifted adults are rare, and the available studies are often limited by methodological shortcomings. In a longitudinal project 101 intellectually gifted adults (mean IQ = 136) were compared to 91 adults of average intelligence (mean IQ = 103). Subjective well-being was operationalized by positive and negative affectivity, general life satisfaction and satisfaction with life in specific domains (work, spouse/partner, self and friends, health, and leisure). Gifted and nongifted respondents did not differ statistically significantly in any of the components of subjective well-being. However, gifted adults reported somewhat lower satisfaction with the domain of leisure (d = -.28). In the gifted group satisfaction with the domain of work accounted for a statistically significant amount of the variance in the criterion of general life satisfaction; in the nongifted group both work and self and friends were relevant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In this issue of the journal Psihološka Obzorja/Horizons of Psychology we present an interview with Professor Joan Freeman who is a chartered psychologist with a private practice in London specializing in the potential of young children. On interviewing with Professor Joan Freeman we have found her a very pleasant, modest and charismatic woman, a mother who raised four children, and a scientist who travels around the world to share the knowledge and expertise to help professionals and parents to understand giftedness better. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Increased awareness of twice-exceptional students is important for all educators and psychologists; however, for school psychologists, improved understanding of twice-exceptionality will enhance their unique role in assessing twice-exceptional students and in recommending appropriate interventions in schools. In this article, the authors address giftedness and disability as separate topics and then connect them as they relate to twice-exceptionality. The authors explore twice-exceptionality in 3 separate case studies, with a specific focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and specific learning disability. The article includes a discussion of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act 2004, specifically as it relates to specific learning disability and giftedness. The authors conclude with 10 recommended practices that include the importance of a comprehensive evaluation to understand a student’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the critical nature of differential diagnosis as a foundation for making recommendations for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The social and cognitive phenomena associated with theory of mind (ToM) and research on the social and cognitive qualities of giftedness have not been sufficiently connected. The common focus areas for ToM researchers (e.g., false-belief understanding, deception, and autism) should be of interest to gifted education research because these are interesting conceptualizations that could be helpful in better understanding gifted children’s social interactions and friendships, and provide some guidance in classroom grouping. Except in a few studies, for example of perspective taking, ToM research has not studied identified gifted children. Perhaps this is because giftedness is usually formally assessed after the developmental periods at which it is typically studied. Including gifted children (academically, creatively, or otherwise) might help broaden the understanding of ToM variables and ensure that the key tasks do not have ceiling effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Within disciplines, certain theoretical, ontological, and heuristic frameworks evolve toward axiomatic status over time. This evolution can limit disciplinary growth. Interdisciplinary theorizing can introduce trouble into such frameworks and add the tension necessary for the creation of new knowledge. This theoretical essay provides educators with new ways of thinking about teaching disadvantaged gifted youth. Differentiation, an educational philosophy, is reconceptualized as a form of critical pedagogy termed critical differentiation. The concept of the twice oppressed is presented. This concept suggests that it is possible for children to be oppressed based on social category as well as gifted classification. As in the case of the twice exceptional child who may struggle in classrooms with both dyslexia and giftedness, the twice oppressed child may struggle with both poverty and giftedness. Critical differentiation, or a merger of critical pedagogy and differentiation, may become a step toward resolving this conundrum. The concept of critical differentiation is explicated in this essay, along with sample lesson ideas and suggestions for framing research endeavors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

The article presents results of a multiple-case study that examined the ways in which parents perceived and influenced the development of five children who showed extraordinary potential in various domains, such as school, sports or music. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information about the children’s development and were subsequently processed by thematic analysis. The analysis showed that parents based their nurturing practices on their constructions of children’s giftedness. In most cases they constructed giftedness as an inborn and stable trait which predisposed children to future extraordinary achievements. This construction was related to supportive nurturing practices but also to excessive expectations and pressures to maintain peak performance which seemed to have a hindering effect on children’s motivation and on the long-term development of their achievements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

In Sweden, special needs of high-ability individuals have received little attention. For this purpose, adult Swedes with superior general mental ability (GMA; N = 302), defined by an IQ score > 130 on tests of abstract reasoning, answered a questionnaire regarding their views of themselves and their giftedness. The participants also rated their self-theory of intelligence and completed the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13). At large, the participants experienced being different but felt little need to downplay their giftedness to gain social acceptance. Most participants encompassed an entity self-theory of intelligence, while also recognizing that it takes effort to develop one’s ability. The group scored lower ( p < .001) than Swedes in general on the SOC, which may be a reflection of social difficulties associated with being gifted in an egalitarian society. However, it may also indicate that the SOC carries a different meaning for those with superior GMA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

This study investigated whether intellectually gifted students in Australia, with different levels of giftedness and cultural orientations, had different experiences of the forced-choice dilemma—choosing between the needs for peer acceptance and academic achievement. A random sample of 231 intellectually gifted students attending secondary school completed and returned a self-report questionnaire. The data were analyzed using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The study found some support for the hypothesis that level of intellectual giftedness was positively related to the experience of the forced-choice dilemma. It was also shown that those with medium-level vertical allocentric orientations toward the family were likely to be the most vulnerable to the phenomenon. Intellectually gifted male adolescents, intellectually gifted students in early adolescence, and intellectually gifted students with peers of different cultural backgrounds were additional groups identified as being at risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)