Dimensions of Anxiety Among High IQ Children

Abstract

Responses of 584 high IQ children to the 37 item Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale were submitted to a factor analysis. The five factors that emerged (Physiological, Worry/Oversensitivity, Concentration, Lie 1, and Lie 2) were shown to be highly similar to the factors found with the normative sample. Coefficients of congruence revealed significant correspondence between all factors for the high IQ and normative group. Means and standard deviations for males and females at each age group are also reported, revealing lower levels of anxiety for the high IQ group on all variables. Reliability estimates for each age group on the three subscales of anxiety and for the total Anxiety Scale support the clinical and research use of this new scale in work with high IQ children.Identifying intellectually superior students and providing them with an appropriate education has been an important goal for educators but is presently in another cyclical period of emphasis. However, relatively little research exists concerning the various personality dimensions and affective characteristics of intellectually gifted children or whether these dimensions differ from those of children in other IQ ranges. Furthermore, the instruments commonly used to assess these dimensions have not been investigated adequately regarding validity for high IQ children nor for potential bias in their use with high IQ groups.Popular mythology has held that gifted people, especially those labeled &dquo;genius,&dquo; are particularly emotionally unstable. Although this common stereotype has persisted, the available research tends to refute the view that high IQ children have more personality disorders or emotional disturbance than normal IQ children. Much of the earlier research involved the use of projective testing and teacher ratings to measure emotional disturbance and anxiety levels.

Parenting Styles and Adjustment in Gifted Children

“…The teachers rated the gifted children as significantly superior on the social and cognitive spontaneity components of play. Scholwinski and Reynolds (1985) maintained that despite studies indicating a healthy emotional development in gifted children, the stereotype of the maladjusted gifted child continues to endure. To confirm past studies, they compared the anxiety levels of gifted and nongifted children 6 to 19 years of age.…”

Wechsler profiles in referred children with intellectual giftedness: Associations with trait-anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and heterogeneity of Piaget-like reasoning processes

“…The dimensional structure of the R-CMAS has been demonstrated in general population samples, 35 and also specifically in gifted children. 36 It has been confirmed within the French version, as well as the scale's other psychometric properties. 34 On the basis of results obtained in general population samples, the French R-CMAS displays normalized scores with cutpoints for the detection of trait-anxiety (60.0 for the TA score and 13.0 for the three subscales).…”

Étude transversale de l’anxiété trait dans un groupe de 111 enfants intellectuellement surdoués

“…Les seuils pour le dépistage de l'anxiété trait correspondent à la moyenne plus un écart-type (85 e percentile), soit 60,0 (50,0 + 10,0) pour le score TA et 13 (10,0 + 3,0) pour chacun des sous-scores [13]. La validité de la structure dimensionnelle a été démontrée à deux reprises au sein d'échantillons représentatifs de la population générale [16], et également de façon spécifique chez les enfants surdoués [17]. Elle a été confirmée en français, tout comme les principales propriétés psychométriques de l'échelle [13].…”