An Empirical Investigation of the Social Coping Strategies Used by Gifted Adolescents

Abstract

The formation of an identity during adolescence is believed to be facilitated by conformity to others and membership in a peer group. Because gifted adolescents in a typical school setting often experience difficulties in conformity and peer group membership, they can be expected to face some unique challenges during adolescence. The current study seeks empirical evidence for discrete strategies that gifted adolescents may use to cope with perceived social difficulties. Highly gifted students who were identified by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth and who participated in a rigorous summer academic program completed a survey that was specifically designed to reflect coping strategies proposed in the literature. The results of the survey were factor analyzed and yielded five meaningful factors: denial of giftedness, popularity/conformity, peer acceptance, fear of failure, and activity level. The results of the factor analysis suggest that further research focusing on the measurement of social coping strategies among gifted adolescents is warranted.

The Social Coping Questionnaire: An Examination of Its Structure with an American Sample of Gifted Adolescents

“…Specifically, Swiatek (1995Swiatek ( , 2001Swiatek ( , 2002Swiatek & Dorr, 1998) and Chan (2003Chan ( , 2004Chan ( , 2005 found various combinations of social coping factors with American and Chinese students. However, several factors that emerged from their studies did not emerge in this study.…”

“…The Social Coping Questionnaire (SCQ; Swiatek, 1995) was designed to assess these strategies. This studys purpose was to examine the SCQ's factor structure with a sample of 600 younger (grades 5-7) and older (grades 8-11) gifted boys and girls in the US.…”

Habilidades Sociais e Bem-Estar Subjetivo de Crianças Dotadas e Talentosas

“…Não é surpresa, então, que muitos pesquisadores (Bain et al, 2006;Cross, Coleman, & Stewart, 1995;Galloway & Porath, 1997;Garland & Zigler, 1999;Norman, Ramsay, Roberts, & Martray, 2000;Swiatek, 1995) tentem compreender o ajustamento de crianças dotadas e talentosas pela medida de seu status sociométrico, habilidades de coping social, competência social e habilidades sociais. Pesquisas empíricas têm indicado que as crianças dotadas e talentosas constituem um grupo distinto quando se trata de competência social (Galloway & Porath, 1997;McCallister, Nash, & Meckstroth, 1996).…”

Inteligencia Emocional en alumnos superdotados: un estudio comparativo entre España e Inglaterra

“…Los instrumentos utilizados fueron SSRI (Schutte et al, 1998) y un cuestionario de estrategias para afrontar problemas (Social Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Swiatek, 1995). Los objetivos específicos fueron: 1) identificar la naturaleza y dimensiones de la inteligencia emocional, utilizando el EIS de Schutte (Emotional Intelligence Scale); 2) desarrollar escalas empíricas para hallar la validez y fiabilidad de los diferentes componentes de la inteligencia emocional; 3) relacionar los diferentes componentes de la inteligencia emocional con las estrategias específicas de la competencia social.…”

“…En cuanto a las estrategias para hacer frente a problemas por el hecho de ser superdotados, los datos mostraron recursos adecuados de adaptación y ayuda a sus colegas. Datos que coinciden con los de Swiatek (1995) mientras en el presente estudio se ha utilizado el EQ-i:YV (una medida de auto informe que mide rasgos de personalidad y competencia social), ellos utilizaron el SSRI (una medida de auto informe fundamentada en el modelo de habilidad). Por otro lado, se podría deber a la diferencia de edad de ambas muestras.…”