Social and Academic Self-Concepts of Gifted Adolescents

Abstract

Self-concept is a construct that is greatly challenged during adolescence. Gifted students undergo the same developmental processes as their less able peers, but the way they handle these transformations may be quite different. Although self-concept seems to be a multifaceted, hierarchical construct, too often educators force it into a unidimensional definition that they apply in the same way to all students. A review of the literature on the academic and the social self-concepts of gifted adolescents reveals the importance of considering the unique talents of the individual rather than considering gifted students as a homogeneous group.