Sense of Resiliency in a Population of At-Risk Gifted Students

• In Event: 46.071 - At-Risk Populations in Gifted Education

Abstract

There is scant research related to gifted/at-risk youth’s future orientation. For this study, the term at-risk referred to all youth in danger of dropping out of or not completing high school with the necessary knowledge and skills to function in adult life. Longitudinal data of adolescent poverty was collected between 1998 and 2011. A growth-curve framework was used to compare gifted (n = 475) and non-gifted students (n = 7,482). Results indicated that gifted participants had a better sense of their futures than their non-gifted peers. Over time, gifted participants reported negligible decline in educational expectations as compared with non-gifted participants. Findings reflect a bright point in thinking about gifted youth and obstacles they face while growing up in poverty.

Authors

• Kevin D. Besnoy, The University of Alabama

• Anneliese C Bolland, The University of Alabama

• John Bolland, The University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa