Paul M. Janos

Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, and Peer Relations Among Gifted Children Who Feel "Different"

Two-hundred seventy-one elementary age high-IQ children and their parents completed an extensive battery of questions on social and emotional development. Eighty-eight children (37%) conceptualized themselves as differing from their peers. Although they described differences in a positive fashion, and although their self-esteem was above the mean reported for a large normative sample, it was lower than that of high-IQ children who did not think of themselves as being different. Furthermore, the reports about peer relations given by children who thought themselves different contained more signs suggesting difficulties than did those of children who did not. These results suggest that many cognitively gifted children need increased psychological support if they are to optimize their personal and social development.

Psychological Adjustment in a College-Level Program of Marked Academic Acceleration.

The questionnaire responses of 24 markedly accelerated young students were compared with those of 24 regular-aged university students, 23 National Merit Scholars, and 27 students who had qualified for acceleration but instead elected to participate in high school. Measures included the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California Psychological Inventory, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Accelerated students differed minimally from the college-aged groups, and not at all from high-ability age mates, on all of the measures, a finding contrary to the expectation that skipping high school is likely to be deleterious to ones adjustment. Both groups of normal-aged college students were more socially assertive. The accelerated students were less conforming and conventional than the others, but mean differences were small and not indicative of admustment difficulties. The study provides no basis for concern about the typical psychological and social adjustment of accelerated students.

A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study of the Social Relations of Students Who Enter College Early:

Sixty-three students who had entered college at age 14 or younger supplied data on the number and ages of their friends, time spent together in various activities, number of times various sensitive topics were discussed, and degree of shared intimacy. Striking differences appeared during the first and second years between the proportions of the friendship investment with agemates and older university classmates. By junior year, and thereafter, however, early entrants appeared to have established relations with older students of breadth and depth at least equivalent to those already existing with agemates. Young college graduates were pronouncedly more invested in relationships with older individuals. These findings suggest that early entrants support each other during the first and second years at the university and use these relations as a base for developing fulfilling friendships with older students as upperclasspersons and graduates.

Underachievement among markedly accelerated college students.

This study investigated those few lackluster achievers as could be identified, using loose criteria, in a college-level program of academic acceleration. They evidenced, on college transcripts, significant differences from high-achieving students of comparable ability. Underachieving males appeared less psychologically mature and appeared to suffer more internal conflict than achieving males, but underachieving females evidenced greater maturity than their counterparts.

Consequences of Having a Gifted Sibling: Myths and Realities:

Three hundred sixty-six triads, each including a mother and her only two children, ages 7-14, completed questionnaires targeting mental ability and school achievement, child adjustment, and sibling relationship variables. Triads had been chosen as having 0, 1, or 2 children who were eligible for special classes for highly capable Students. Except for academic-ability variables, group comparisons according to school-based categories were not suggestive of sibling-giftedness effects. To focus on within-family perceptions, pairs were reclassified using a median split of the first principal component of maternal perceptions of childs giftedness. Contrary to findings of most previous studies, both giftedness and having a gifted sibling were generally associated with more favorable responses by children and mothers. Gender and age effects were also examined.