Underachieving Gifted Students: Review and Implications

Much has been written about the relationship of giftedness and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as the relationship between ADHD and underachievement. The present study examined whether students who were identified as gifted underachievers were more likely to manifest symptoms of ADHD, as measured by the ADHD-IV. Over half of the gifted underachievers met the screening criteria for ADHD based on teacher reports, and almost 30% of the gifted underachievers met the screening criteria for ADHD based on parent reports. Most of these students had elevated scores on the inattention scale. The prevalence of inattention was over 2 times as high as the prevalence in the norming sample using the teacher rating scales and over 5 times as high as the prevalence in the norming sample using the parent rating scales. Although parents and teachers rated students similarly on the hyperactivity scale, teachers rated students as more inattentive than parents did. However, elevated parent ratings of inattention negatively predicted students’ self-regulation, goal valuation, and self-efficacy. Self-regulation was most strongly related to inattention. We cannot know whether the gifted underachievers with high inattention scores have undiagnosed ADHD. However, our results suggest that a substantial percentage of gifted underachievers exhibit attentional problems at home, and that these attentional problems are severe enough to merit further examination.

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Everyday Stressors of Academically Gifted Adolescents

Journal of Secondary Gifted Education ◽

10.1177/1932202x9600700203 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 356-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Jean A. Baker

Keyword(s):

Gifted Students ◽

Psychosocial Interventions ◽

Academic Ability ◽

Psychosocial Characteristics ◽

Affective Education ◽

Underachieving Gifted ◽

Gifted Girls ◽

Gifted Adolescents ◽

Academically Gifted

This study evaluated everyday “hassles” and other stressors experienced by academically gifted, exceptionally academically gifted, and academically average adolescents. The results suggest that gifted and non-gifted adolescents experienced similar levels and types of everyday stressors. However, exceptional and to some degree gifted girls endorsed more perfectionistic tendencies than did their average peers. The need for affective education and psychosocial interventions for gifted students in schools is discussed. Adolescence is a time of increased stress for all youth. Educators of the gifted have had a long and enduring concern about the special stressors and pressures affecting gifted adolescents (e.g., Hollingworth, 1942; Seeley, 1993). Although gifted students are often posited to have strong psychosocial characteristics (e.g., Clark, 1988), we also have documentation that giftedness can generate stress and conflict for some students (e.g., Whitmore, 1980). Although we might expect high levels of stress from gifted students experiencing psychosocial or educational difficulties (i.e., underachieving gifted students), we have little normative information about problems and strains experienced by “typical” gifted adolescents. This study focused on specific stressors endorsed by academically gifted adolescents and compared them to those endorsed by their peers of average academic ability.

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