Peer acceptance and self-esteem in gifted children

Abstract

The present study examined how well gifted children in regular classrooms were accepted by their classmates. Fifty-four gifted and 681 normal IQ children in Grades two through eight were given peer ratings by their classmates and tested for self-esteem. Information was gathered from the schools as to each subject's age, sex, classroom, and for the gifted, IQ. It was found that gifted children are more readily accepted in the domain of academic pursuits than in other areas of peer acceptance such as athletic and general social activities. The trend is similar for self-esteem, which is higher for the gifted sample only in the academic area.