Understanding the Underachieving Gifted Child

Emotional Problems of Over- and Underachieving Children in a Brazilian Elementary School

“…T h e assumption underlying the study was that in Brazil, as in the United States and elsewhere, emotional and social adjustment is a significant negative factor in school success. Researchers have found, for example, that underachievement in school work is more likely to be associated with adjustment problems than is satisfactory or high achievement (2,3,9,14,15), and that adjustment problems interfere with academic success (1,6,10,12,13). It was hypothesized that a survey of the problems of Brazilian school children would show that underachievers have more problems than overachievers.…”