Are gifted adolescents more satisfied with their lives than their non-gifted peers?

Sebastian Bergold,Ricarda Steinmayr,Detlef H Rost,Linda Wirthwein

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01623

Abstract

Studies investigating the life satisfaction of intellectually gifted and non-gifted students are scarce and often suffer from methodological shortcomings. We examined the life satisfaction of gifted and non-gifted adolescents using a rather unselected sample of N = 655 German high-school students (n = 75 gifted), adequate comparison groups of non-gifted students, and a clear definition of giftedness (general intelligence g > 2 SD above the mean). There was no difference in life satisfaction between gifted and non-gifted adolescents (d < |0.1|). Girls reported somewhat lower life satisfaction scores than boys (d = 0.24). However, this result was not specific to giftedness but was instead found across the entire sample. Thus, gifted girls were not found to be especially unsatisfied with their lives. Our findings support previous research showing that giftedness is not a risk factor for impaired psycho-social well-being of boys or girls.

Highlights

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the questions of whether certain groups of individuals are more satisfied with their lives than others and which individual determinants contribute to the subjective well-being of an individual (e.g., Eid and Larsen, 2008)
Empirical research focusing on the life satisfaction of gifted adolescents is scarce (e.g., Neihart, 1999; Jones, 2014), and the few existing studies have been plagued by various methodological shortcomings such as small and/or preselected samples and/or a lack of appropriate comparison groups and/or imprecise definitions and operationalizations of giftedness
We focus in particular on gifted and non-gifted adolescents because this age group might be especially susceptible to low life satisfaction (e.g., Gilman and Huebner, 2003)

Summary

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in the questions of whether certain groups of individuals are more satisfied with their lives than others and which individual determinants contribute to the subjective well-being of an individual (e.g., Eid and Larsen, 2008). Research has shown that individual characteristics (e.g., personality variables; see Lucas, 2008) contribute to a person’s life satisfaction and well-being. One could assume that people who score high on intelligence tests—intellectually gifted individuals—might be more satisfied with their lives than non-gifted individuals. Empirical research focusing on the life satisfaction of gifted adolescents is scarce (e.g., Neihart, 1999; Jones, 2014), and the few existing studies have been plagued by various methodological shortcomings such as small and/or preselected samples and/or a lack of appropriate comparison groups and/or imprecise definitions and operationalizations of giftedness. The aim of the current study was to shed some light on the life satisfaction of adolescents by using reliable and valid instruments to assess intellectual giftedness as well as life satisfaction and by comparing a rather unselected group of gifted adolescents with an appropriately matched non-gifted group

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion