Psychological well-being of Chinese and Russian academically gifted adolescents: comparative analysis

Abstract

Introduction.Psychological well-being is the most important resource and condition for the development of human potential, which determines the relevance of studying the psychological well-being of gifted children and adolescents, including cross-cultural analysis of this phenomenon. The article presents the comparative analysis of the psychological well-being of Chinese and Russian adolescents who study at specialized educational programs for academically gifted school students.Materials and Methods.The sample consisted of 177 15-years-old adolescents (45.8% female) from China and Russia (62 adolescents enrolled in specialized educational programs for academically gifted schoolchildren, and 115 adolescents enrolled in general education programs). The empirical data were collected with the use of K. Riff Scale of Psychological Well-being (adopted in Russian and Chinese) and a questionnaire for assessing the adolescents’ attitude to their giftedness (only for samples of gifted adolescents).Results.The profiles of psychological well-being of Chinese and Russian academically gifted adolescents have no statistically significant differences, but there is significant differences between the profiles of the comparison groups in the parameters "personal growth" (F=3.16) and "self-acceptance" (F=3.21), higher indicators for both parameters were found in the Russian comparison group. At the same time, Chinese academically gifted adolescents outperform their peers from the comparison group in the parameters "goals in life", "personal growth", "autonomy", "positive relationships" and in the total indicator of psychological well-being (4.27≤F≤9.19), academically gifted adolescents from Russia – only in the parameter "autonomy" (F=4.28). In the sample of Russian academically gifted adolescents, the attitude to their giftedness is not related to psychological well-being, in the sample of gifted adolescents from China it is related to the total indicator of well-being, as well as components of personal growth and self-acceptance (0.40≤r≤0.44).Discussion and Conclusions.The results are discussed in the context of the analysis of culturally determined differences in the social situation of personality development for Chinese and Russian adolescent.