Reviewed are studies investigating the commonly held supposition that precocity in gifted children frequently results in failure as adults. The author uses an IQ cutoff point of 132 as a measure of giftedness and compares the utility of three criteria of success: employment in a position utilizing his capacities (the criterion of L. Terman's study and the author's), eminence in one's professional position, and achievement of an international and enduring reputation for one's accomplishments. Reported is a study which followed up children identified as precocious in the popular press and showed one extreme failure and many successful or outstandingly successful adults. Testing of Terman's group as adults and a study of the females in his group are also reported to show that Ss continued to have outstanding intellectual ability and professional success. The author suggests that the use of unrealistic criteria (such as expecting accomplishments of an Einstein or Newton) is responsible for the continuing myth that precocious children grow up to be failures as adults. (DB)