Overlap among desirable and undesirable characteristics in gifted children.

A Study on Mental Health of Scientifically Gifted High School Males (SGM) and Females (SGF)

“…These results were confirmed by Liddle (1958) in a large scale study of elementary school youngsters who were tested on a variety of instruments for aggressive and withdrawn tendencies.…”

Psychosocial development in intellectually gifted children.

“…Terman was the first to draw this conclusion, which he supported for both preadolescents and adolescents with a wide range of self-report inventories (e.g., Cady's [ 19231 version of the Woodward Personality Inventory) and character trait ratings by parents and teachers (Burks, Jensen, & Terman, 1930;Terman, 1925). Other studies employing self-report instruments or psychological tests Lehman & Erdwins, 1981;Liddle, 1958;Mensch, 1950;Milgram & Milgram, 1976), parents' responses to behavior checklists , parents' ratings of adjustment characteristics (Burks et al, 1930;Terman, 1925), teachers' trait ratings (Hildreth, 1938, Mensch, 1950Specht, 19191, and teachers' responses to behavior problem checklists (Hitchfield, 1973;Ludwig & Cullinan, 1984) have documented the same finding in elementary school children.…”

“…The following list shows the broad range of behaviors addressed in the studies finding more favorable psychosocial adjustment in gifted groups: trustworthiness under stress, freedom from psychopathic trends, social preferences and attitudes, and diminished tendencies to boast, exaggerate, and cheat (Burks, Jensen, & Terman, 1930;Terman, 1925) 0 sense of self-worth, social skills, sense of personal freedom, reduced antisocial tendencies, school relationships, and comfort with oneself and with interpersonal relationships (Lehman & Erdwins, 1981) 0 participation in extracurricular activities, sociability, values and interests, and personality characteristics (Pollin, 1983) social competence, internalizing and externalizing .behavior problems, less inadequacy, immaturity, and socialized delinquency (Ludwig & Cullinan, 1984) fewer aggressive and withdrawal tendencies (Liddle, 1958) 0 ratings of courtesy, cooperation, willingness to take suggestions, egotism, self-will, domineeringness, sense of humor, and self-assurance (Miles, 1954) Hitchfield's (1973) longitudinal report on British children is one of the soundest methodologically. She studied a subset of the group investigated by Pringle, Butler, and Davie (19661, which included almost all children born in a single week in 1958 in England, Wales, and Scotland.…”

Individual Differences

“…Davids & Parenti (33) present evidence that popular children, as deter mined by sociometric choices, tend to be well-adjusted emotionally and to possess socially desirable personality traits. Liddle (101) finds that intellec tual talent, social leadership, and artistic talent are positively related and that children exhibiting these characteristics are not likely to be withdrawn. People with emotional problems are more likely to have dental caries, ac cording to a study by Manhold & Hafner (112).…”