Socialization Challenges in Gifted High School Students: Causes and Solutions

Abstract

The realities of modern schooling show that teachers are paying more attention to working with bright kids. Simultaneously, the primary focus is on providing circumstances for the development and application of the child’s special abilities. As a consequence of their efforts, these students compete in contests and Olympiads and develop creative products in various areas. We witness an apparently successful child who may struggle with difficulties of self-determination, self-presentation, complex relations with the micro-society, and so on. These difficulties might result in the victimization of a bright youngster, preventing them from achieving success in the future. The basis of these problems for this group of children is frequently a lack of a solution or an untimely remedy to socializing issues (according to A.V. Mudrik). This issue is especially problematic in high school. The purpose of the research is to identify gifted high school students’ challenges in solving cultural, socio-cultural, and socio-psychological socialization problems, as well as to determine the social and pedagogical conditions for overcoming and preventing difficulties in solving socialization problems. The research covered high school students of the Development Vector Multi-Subject School of the Kostroma State University, Kostroma (n = 11); Sirius Centre session participants, Sochi (n = 22); students of the Academy of Talents, St. Petersburg (n = 22); students of the Pre-University Training Department of the Omsk State Technical University, Omsk (n = 48). The sample size was 103 persons in total. Diagnostic tools: Gender Autobiography Method by I.S. Kletsina; Rokeach Value Survey by M. Rokeach; Studying a Child’s Performance in Relation to School and Extracurricular Activities (questionnaire) by V.S. Yurkevich; Friendship Questionnaire (developed by the authors); Agency Questionnaire by V.K. Zaretsky; Self-Attitude Analysis Method by S.R. Pantileyev; Communicative and Organizational Abilities Method by V.V. Sinyavsky and V.A. Fedoroshin; Professional Attitudes in Adolescents Questionnaire by I.M. Kondakov. The authors offer social and educational settings for overcoming and preventing the identified socialization difficulties in gifted high school pupils.