Sebastian Bergold

Are gifted adolescents more satisfied with their lives than their non-gifted peers?

Studies investigating the life satisfaction of intellectually gifted and non-gifted students are scarce and often suffer from methodological shortcomings. We examined the life satisfaction of gifted and non-gifted adolescents using a rather unselected sample of N = 655 German high-school students (n = 75 gifted), adequate comparison groups of non-gifted students, and a clear definition of giftedness (general intelligence g > 2 SD above the mean). There was no difference in life satisfaction between gifted and non-gifted adolescents (d < |0.1|). Girls reported somewhat lower life satisfaction scores than boys (d = 0.24). However, this result was not specific to giftedness but was instead found across the entire sample. Thus, gifted girls were not found to be especially unsatisfied with their lives. Our findings support previous research showing that giftedness is not a risk factor for impaired psycho-social well-being of boys or girls.

Academic Competencies: Their Interrelatedness and Gender Differences at Their High End.

The present study investigated (a) how a latent profile analysis based on representative data of N = 74,868 4th graders from 17 European countries would cluster the students on the basis of their reading, mathematics, and science achievement test scores; (b) whether there would be gender differences at various competency levels, especially among the top performers; (c) and whether societal gender equity might account for possible cross-national variation in the gender ratios among the top performers. The latent profile analysis revealed an international model with 7 profiles. Across these profiles, the test scores of all achievement domains progressively and consistently increased. Thus, consistent with our expectations, (a) the profiles differed only in their individuals’ overall performance level across all academic competencies and not in their individuals’ performance profile shape. From the national samples, the vast majority of the students could be reliably assigned to 1 of the profiles of the international model. Inspection of the gender ratios revealed (b) that boys were overrepresented at both ends of the competency spectrum. However, there was (c) some cross-national variation in the gender ratios among the top performers, which could be partly explained by women’s access to education and labor market participation. The interrelatedness of academic competencies and its practical implications, the role of gender equity as a possible cause of gender differences among the top performers, and directions for future research are discussed.

Personality and Intelligence Interact in the Prediction of Academic Achievement

Personality predicts academic achievement above and beyond intelligence. However, studies investigating the possible interaction effects between personality and intelligence when predicting academic achievement are scarce, as is the separate investigation of broad personality factors versus narrow personality facets in this context. Two studies with 11th grade students (Study 1: N = 421; Study 2: N = 243) were conducted to close this research gap. The students completed the Intelligence-Structure-Test 2000 R measuring general reasoning ability, and a well-established personality inventory based on the Five Factor Model. Academic achievement was operationalized via Grade Point Average. Using hierarchical regression and moderation analyses, Study 1 revealed that Conscientiousness interacted with intelligence when predicting academic achievement: there was a stronger association between intelligence and academic achievement when students scored higher on the Conscientiousness scale. Study 2 confirmed the findings from Study 1 and also found a moderation effect of Neuroticism (stronger association between intelligence and academic achievement with lower values on the Neuroticism scale). Analyses at the facet level revealed much more differentiated results than did analyses at the domain level, suggesting that investigating personality facets should be preferred over investigating personality domains when predicting academic achievement.

Zur diagnostischen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften bei der Identifikation begabter Schülerinnen und Schüler

the extent to which teachers can identify gifted students has been controversially discussed. In this study both the reliability and criterion validity of teachers’ assessments in identifying intellectually gifted students were examined. 429 students were rated by their teachers and objectively tested on their general intelligence, vocabulary and speech comprehension, understanding of mathematical connections, and creativity. the results show teachers’ assessments to be reliable, however they lack in the discrimination between different domains of giftedness. regarding linguistic and mathematical giftedness teachers’ assessments provided fairly valid results and also incremental information beyond scholastic achievement. teachers’ diagnostic performances were weaker when trying to identify students scoring high on general intelligence and did not exceed the accidental level when regarding creativity.

Teachers’ Knowledge About Intellectual Giftedness: A First Look at Levels and Correlates:

Evidence-based knowledge about intellectual giftedness is important for identifying, counseling, and fostering intellectually gifted students. How much teachers actually know about intellectual giftedness is unclear because previous studies have relied solely on self-reports. This study aimed to: (a) develop a test for the assessment of teachers’ knowledge about intellectual giftedness defined as an intellectual capacity significantly above average, the identification of giftedness, and characteristics of gifted students; and (b) inspect some correlates of teachers’ performance on a knowledge test. The final version of the test comprised 38 items and a true–false–do-not-know response format. Sixty-three German secondary school teachers completed the test. On average, teachers answered 26.8% of the items correctly, 34.7% incorrectly, and 38.1% with “do not know.” The higher teachers’ rate of misconceptions, the more negative was their attitude toward fostering gifted students. Personal contact with the gifted was correlated with subjective knowledge but not with assessed knowledge. The results stress the importance of intellectual giftedness as a psychological topic to be addressed during teacher education.