4.2.5 An Analysis of Awareness of Parents of Gifted Children in Turkey

There is a limited number of studies about. gifted’s families in Turkey, which have priority in the lives of gifted and talented children. It is considered that the awareness of families should be determined and the interventions appropriate to their needs should be planned and urgent implementations should be increased. Gifted students need adult guidance more than normal students, and they generally benefit more from a supportive family environment than other students (Deur, 2011). Many gifted students cannot succeed without extra support. While they do average performance without support, they can use their full potential when the necessary support is provided and they can be the people who have the name of the future (Siegelbaum & Rotner 1983). So the purpose of this study is to evaluate the awareness of parents of gifted students in terms of various demographic variables. This is quantitative study done with the screening model which is one of the descriptive research methods. The participants of the study are 187 parents whose children diagnosed gifted and talented (6-10 ages) in 2016-2018. The “Personal Information Form”, designed by the researchers, was used to collect data on predetermined qualitative factors (gender, education level, ocuupation, income etc) and to determine parent of the gifted’s awearness “Parent Awareness Scale The Gifted Children Form (PAS- GC) developed by Afat & K. Konik (2013) were used. PAS- GC is a 39-item, 5-item Likert-type scale consisting of 4 dimensions (1-Conflict and Stress, 2-Perfectionism, 3-Motivation and Success, 4-Responsibility - Self-Management). The highest score is 195 points and the lowest score is 39. According to the factor analysis, the scale explains 36.879% of the total variance. To determine the construct validity of the scale, a comparative and confirmatory factor analysis and similar scale validity analysis were performed. In the reliability studies of the scale, item analysis was performed. Cronbach α reliability coefficient is α = .833. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, RMSEA value of the scale was calculated as .090. Preliminary analyzes show that the normality assumption could not be met, so Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Post-Hoc Mann-Whitney U test has applied to investigate the differences between the variables.

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