Confucian Values in Vietnamese Gifted Adolescents and Their Non-Gifted Peers

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the similarities and differences between Vietnamese intellectually gifted adolescents and their age-peers not identified as gifted in the adoption of traditional Confucian values and related levels of moral reasoning. In this study, 354 high school students (180 intellectually gifted adolescents and 174 students not identified as gifted), with equal numbers of males and females in each group, participated in a survey containing (1) the Confucian Value Scale that measures harmony, conservativeness, social responsibility, and self-control, and (2) the Defining Issues Test that measures moral reasoning. Analyses of variance show that Vietnamese intellectually gifted adolescents expressed higher levels of social responsibility, self-control, and moral reasoning than their peers who were not identified as gifted. Although both groups endorsed harmony with ethical conduct, the intellectually gifted group appeared to be less conservative than the latter. Implications of the study have been provided to school teachers, parents, counsellors, principals and educational policy makers, and especially to the gifted students.