Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Emotional Characteristics G i f t e d s t uden ts r e p o rt g o od emo t i o n al ad j u s tmen t. T h ey r ega rd themselves as academic achievers w h o behave well , get along w e l l w i t h others, and have g o od friends. They believe their weaknesses lie i n sports, f i n d i ng a nd k e e p i ng jobs, a nd attracting the opposite sex. Th ey easily get w o r k e d u p over things that h a p p en a r o u nd t h em a nd they feel s c h o o l wo rk is unchallenging. A n a l y s i n g the participants' perceptions of be i ng g i f t ed a nd their self-perceptions , the researchers f o u nd that th e more intelligent students tend to believe they have greater d i f f i c u l ty ma k i ng friends. They are also mo re critica l of themselves, a nd mo re l i k e ly to feel they are different f r om thei r friends due to their ou t s t and i ng abilities. These factors lead to a p o or self-assessment of their interpersonal relationships. The results also s h ow t h at p a r e n ts h a ve h i g h er e x pe c t a t i ons of sons t h a n of daughters, a nd that the mo re creative students a n d mo re able student leaders report mo r e emo t i o n al p r o b l ems w i t h s t r on g feelings a nd intens e i n v o l v eme n t, w h i l e less able s t u d e nt leaders s h ow mo re c o n c e rn f o r i n t e r p e r s o n al p r o b l ems a n d g a i n i ng recognition. Heterogeneous Needs A n often neglected fact h i g h l i g h t ed b y the s t udy is that gifted children do not come f r om a homogeneous group. For instance , the participants can be classified i n to three groups according to their self-perceptions. The first is the 'modest g r o u p' of students w h o have l ower self-regard i n ma ny domains, except i n their abilities i n sports activities. The y are mo s t ly older, more intelligent students w h o do not consider themselves gifted. Mo st express p r ob l ems i n ma k i ng friends. The second g r o up of student s are the 'superstars ' w h o are v e ry confident i n every d oma i n. Th ey ar e mo st confident of their leadership abilities. The t h i rd group of s t u d e n t s a r e t h e ' s t e r e o t y p ed g i f t e d '. Th ey f a ll b e t we e n the f i r s t t w o g r o u p s i n their self-perceptions, a n d f i t w e l l i n t o s t e r e o t y p e s of t h e gifted. D i f f e r e n t v i e w s w i l l l e ad to d i f f e r e nt categorizations base d o n d i f f e r e n t sets of d a t a . T h e a b o v e c a t e g o r i z a t i o n serves to emp h a s i ze the he t e r ogeneou s needs of g i f t e d c h i l d r e n. M o r e a t t e n t i on s h o u l d therefore be g i v en to this d i v e r s i ty of needs w h e n d e s i g n i n g a c u r r i c u l um for them. This study is immensely h e l p f ul for the development of appropriate gifted p r og r ammes to he l p g i f t ed c h i l d r en hand le p r ob l ems i n their da i ly lives. Profile of Participants' Self-Perceived Competence 34