This article explores some of the common causes and solutions to perfectionism in gifted children. We highlight practical implications from studies examining perfectionism in gifted students, including how implicit theories of intelligence (e.g., mindset) relate to perfectionism. Specific strategies are shared to guide gifted children toward a…

The Munich Model of Giftedness (MMG) by Heller and his colleagues, developed for the identification of gifted children, is adapted and expanded, with the aim of making it more universally usable as a model for the pathway from talents to performance. On the side of the talent-factors, the concept of multiple intelligences is introduced, and the…

Background: Creating greater stability in the teacher labor force and improving teacher quality is an important education policy priority in the United States. While there is a robust literature on the external, environmental reasons teachers stay in or leave the occupation, little is known about the role internal, person-level factors play in…

Giftedness and talent are the focus of many professional and scientific debates. Starting from the phenomenological interpretation that emphasizes the perception of self and reflects the subjective experience of the present and the future, the author presents the attitude of the gifted and other students towards the psychological nature of…

Adolescents confront a plethora of physical and emotional changes, especially those alterations surrounding puberty. Body image disturbances have become commonplace with high school students, and school personnel seem to have had little success in fighting this problem. Teenagers with body dissatisfaction may also be at risk for mental health…

This paper reviews empirical research related to the personality and affective characteristics of gifted students in the Israeli educational context. The educational backdrop for the research is described and group differences in personality, emotional intelligence, self-identity, and mental health are discussed. Conclusions include a number of…

Previous research in the literature on the relationships between creativity and psychological adjustment tended to use only one or two sources of creativity assessment and focus on a few aspects of adjustment. To examine creative children's psychological adjustment more thoroughly, this exploratory study assessed children's creativity from…

This article presents the author's response to commentaries on "Differentiating Low Performance of the Gifted Leaner: Achieving, Underachieving, and Selective Consuming Students." The commentaries have focused on two issues: (1) the merits of distinguishing selective consumers from other students; and (2) the quality of the study's methodology.…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore gifted alumni perceptions of how participating in an Enrichment Seminar course met their socioemotional needs as they related to identity formation, and whether or not their academic achievement was influenced. The researcher used interviews, narrative questions, and surveys to gather data.…

Discusses the impact of giftedness on psychological well-being. Research reviewed indicates that gifted children are as well adjusted as their typical peers and that the psychological well-being of a gifted child is related to the type of giftedness, the educational fit, and the child's personal characteristics. (CR)

Thirty-four gifted children in Louisiana and 34 from Connecticut were administered the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory (KTCPI). The KTCPI included the What Kind of Person Are You (WKOPAY) subtest, a measure of creative striving. Perfectionistic traits were negatively correlated with…

The study looked at the relationship between gifted students' sense of self-efficacy to their decisions to undertake independent investigations. It also examined whether efficacy beliefs, gifted behavior, or both could be increased by participation in a mini-course on research methodology. The literature on self-efficacy theory is reviewed showing…

This paper discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the importance of personality to identity formation in Terman's sample of 1,528 intellectually gifted children in 1936 and 1940. Based on the children's responses to questions concerning their occupational choice and factors that influenced their decision, participants were classified into…

A review of literature on sensitivity as an affective characteristic of gifted persons is presented. A multifaceted approach to sensitivity is proposed, conceptualizing it as consisting of cognitive and affective dimensions of both interpersonal and intrapersonal sensitivity. The psychological concepts of self-awareness, perspective taking,…

The compulsive perfectionist is compared with "stress seekers" who pursue challenges without judging themselves as harshly. Examples of these types from the literature in terms of economic life, fiction, interpersonal relationships, and sexuality are discussed. Risk-taking and social pressure are seen as key factors in the balanced…