This study examined the relationship among subtypes of perfectionism and achievement goal orientations within the context of Gaudreau and Thompson's quadripartite framework. The authors first sought to replicate Campbell and Di Paula's factor analysis to identify subtypes of self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism…

At the culmination of an 11-year qualitative, cross-sectional study of life events, 48 high-ability high school graduates fitting common stereotypes associated with giftedness completed an open-ended questionnaire, part of which focused on positive life experiences and sources of support. Findings included that intense investment in academics,…

Selective achievers are intrinsically motivated individuals whose performance matches ability only in specific areas that satisfy their interests and personal goal orientations. Through a qualitative research design, this study investigated the phenomenon of selective achievement by examining the experiences of 2 gifted university males. The…

Ninety-four gifted children and 200 nongifted children (aged 9 to 13 years old) were involved in the present study. Their self-concept was assessed by the Revised Song-Hattie Self-Concept Inventory (Zhou & He, 1996). Academic self-concepts pertaining to abilities, school achievements, and grade concepts and nonacademic self-concepts pertaining…

The term "gifted" implies a permanent superiority. However, the majority of children who score in the top few percentiles on ability and achievement tests in 1 grade do not retain their status for more than a year or 2. The tendency of those with high scores on one occasion to obtain somewhat lower scores on a later occasion is one…

Discrepancies between ability and achievement were calculated for reading, spelling, and arithmetic for 64 intellectually gifted students in grades four-six. Means were plotted for males and females. While no statistically significant differences were found between groups, females scored closer to their expected achievement levels than males,…

Frame-of-reference theory was applied to verbal and mathematics self-concept and achievement measures with 103 high school students, ages 13 through 15, who were academically able. Path analysis verified the influence of both internal ability comparisons across academic areas and external ability comparisons relative to peers in determining…