An Examination of the Relationships Between Ego Development, Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration, and the Behavioral Characteristics of Gifted Adolescents

Abstract

Literature exploring the experiences of gifted individuals has often focused on asynchronous development, particularly during childhood and adolescence. Also discussed in the literature are the unique social, emotional, and behavioral characteristics associated with giftedness. However, there is still an unclear picture concerning the implications of this work as related to the specific counseling needs of gifted students, and little empirical support is provided. This study seeks to build, through a developmental lens, a more comprehensive base from which to design counseling and teaching approaches with gifted students. Findings indicate that the ego levels of gifted students are slightly higher than those of typical adolescents. Empirical evidence of the level of development related to Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration for gifted adolescents is provided, with the majority of respondents (70%) falling within Dabrowski’s Level II–Unilevel Disintegration stage. Results also indicated that the gifted students studied are relatively well adjusted and that the behaviors exhibited by gifted adolescents are normally distributed. Study results are interpreted as indicating that although ego development and Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration may share similarities, they are different constructs, and further investigation is needed to best use these theories in designing appropriate and effective counseling and teaching intervention strategies for working with gifted adolescents. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are presented.