School Functioning and Psychological Well-Being of International Baccalaureate and General Education Students A Preliminary Examination

Abstract

The current study compared the school and psychological functioning of 122 gifted and high-achieving students to that of 176 general education students educated in the same school. Relative to their peers in general education, gifted and high-achieving students served in the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) program reported more positive perceptions of school climate, had higher grade point averages and academic self-efficacy, and reported less externalizing psychopathology and affiliation with negative peers. IB and general education students reported comparable levels of global life satisfaction and internalizing symptoms of psychopathology. The psychosocial adjustment of intellectually gifted students within the IB program was similar to that of their high-achieving IB peers on all indicators except satisfaction with friends. Recommendations for future research and implications for educational policy are presented.