Nature of nurture: Mentally superior young adults in the Philippines

Abstract

This article compares aspects of the nurturance of giftedness discovered in primary data with those found in secondary research, and pinpoints similarities or convergences. The qualitative research project involved 34 pairs of mentally superior young adults and their respective biological mothers, living in the National Capital Region of the Philippines at the time of the data collection. Convergences in the primary and secondary data indicate that mothers’ educational background and training affect their parenting; and that prenatal care, medical supervision and nutrition during the early years are of utmost importance. The family configurations are similar in terms of parental ages and number of siblings. Nature of nurture comes in the form of deficiency and growth motivations that could develop the intended traits and behavior associated with gifted individuals; knowledge of these possible links to intellectual development can improve parents’ and schools’ practices in nurturing children. The findings provide information that can be used in curriculum planning and mentoring programs to direct the nurturance of identified mentally superior individuals towards optimizing their potential.