Exploring Hope, Life Meaning, and Social Connectedness in Chinese Gifted Students in a Changing World

This presentation discusses two studies on hope, meaning in life, and social connectedness among Chinese gifted learners in Hong Kong. The first study investigates the factor structures of the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS) and Meaning in Life Questionnaire-Short Form (MLQ-SF) in 540 regular and 389 gifted students, revealing that both scales fit well and exhibit scalar measurement invariance. Gifted students show significantly higher latent means in agency, pathway, and presence of meaning in life. The second study evaluates the Chinese version of the Meaning in Life Children Questionnaire (MIL-CQ-C) in 264 gifted students, confirming its 3-factor structure, good reliability, and scalar measurement invariance across gender. The MIL-CQ-C positively correlates with social connectedness and mediates its relationship with meaning in life. These findings offer insights for educators and policymakers to create educational environments that support the holistic development of gifted students. The presentation will discuss theoretical and practical implications.