Parallel Session Proceedings »
2.7.4 Am I Different? Exploring Gifted Identity Formation through a Lens of Difference
This study aimed to understand how gifted students in Western Australia experienced their giftedness and whether it contributed to a feeling of difference. Baudson and Ziemes (2016), in a study of gifted adults, have found that minority stress is an issue pertaining to giftedness; where minorities experience particular challenges when the majority identity is considered the norm. Erikson (1968) put forward a theory of identity development in adolescents that established a framework for understanding typical psychosocial development patterns of people (Cross, 2001).
Parent’s perceptions of gifted children’s experience of giftedness were collected by a contextual questionnaire, a modified self-perception questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analyses of the semi-structured interviews were completed to identify themes that impacted the gifted individual’s sense of difference. The study had eleven participants, all of whom were parents of children who had previously been identified as gifted by cognitive assessment. Whilst two participants declined to share their child’s IQ, the rest of the sample were all above the 98th Percentile, placing them in the highly gifted range. The children ranged in age from 6-14; this age range was chosen to explore whether stages of identity development occurred at a younger age in gifted children as suggested by the literature. Nine of the participants eleven participants identified as being of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and therefore are of the dominant cultural background in Western Australia, suggesting that any sense of difference that was found by this research is unlikely to be due to cultural or ethnic minority other than being gifted.
This research found that gifted children do experience a sense of difference and subsequent identity development at a younger age than adolescence as suggested in the literature and identified themes influencing this sense of difference. This research supports the findings of Baudson and Ziemes (2016) of giftedness as a minority stressor in identity development and has implications in supporting identity development of gifted children from a younger age. Successful resolution of identity development and progression through stages assists the gifted individual to develop strong convictions and purpose in life. Failure to navigate these challenges successfully may lead to uncertainty and underachievement throughout life. If identity development of gifted individuals can be recognised and supported from an earlier age, it provides gifted individuals a better chance of successfully navigating life’s complex situations.