The gifted student

The personality traits of gifted students were investigated in a sample of 21 participants, 5 to 14 years old, from Cadiz (Spain). Gifted students were defined as those obtaining an IQ of 130 or more in the Wechsler scale, and having high creativity and task persistence (according to Renzulli, 1978). Participants received the following personality tests: Early School Personality Questionnaire, ESPQ (Coan and Cattell, 1966), Children, 1972), and High School Personality Questionnaire (Cattell and Cattell, 1968), in their Spanish versions, depending on the age of the participants. The aim of the study was to find out if giftedness was related to social and emotional adaptation. Results confirmed that gifted students were more adjusted and mature, with a balanced and consistent personality. Differences were found between boys and girls. The analysis of results should take into consideration personal variables of the participants.