Evaluating the effects of full-time vs part-time educational programs for the gifted: affective outcomes and policy considerations

This study evaluates the effects of student participation in two different educational programs/settings for the gifted, i.e., full time homogeneous classes vs mixed ability classes (with a part-time extension program), on a variety of affective outcome. Data on academic self-concept, test anxiety, achievement motivation, perceptions of giftedness, school attitudes, and satisfaction with school were gathered on a sample of 1020 Israeli gifted elementary school children in grades 4–6. Analyses of the data pointed to a less positive personal-social profile in students partaking in special full-time homogeneous classes, compared to their mainstreamed counterparts, as evidenced by lower evaluative anxiety, higher academic self-concept, and more positive labeling in the former setting. However, compared to their mainstreamed counterparts in mixed ability classes, students in special homogeneous classes for the gifted held more favorable attitudes towards various facets of the school/classroom environment (school atmosphere, level of instruction, teacher-student relations, teacher characteristics) and were also more satisfied with school in general when compared to their gifted counterparts partaking in mixed ability classes. The tradeoff between a more positive perception of the school environment and less effective personal-social adjustment for students in special gifted classes should be given due consideration by program planners and evaluators in any cost-benefit analysis of educational programs for gifted students.     

Partner Preferences of the Intellectually Gifted

To date, hardly anything is known about the partner preferences of the intellectually gifted. The present study therefore examined the extent to which 354 gifted individuals judged 17 characteristics to be important in a (potential) partner and compared these ratings with those obtained from a community sample (n = 554). Among other things, it was expected that, among the gifted, a (potential) partner's high intelligence would be judged to be more important than among participants from the general community. It was also expected that single gifted individuals would judge a potential partner's high intelligence to be more important than gifted individuals involved in intimate relationships. Most of our predictions were supported, and results are discussed.     

Transcending a Double Bind: The Case of Jenna

Although all women's career development has been largely ignored, gifted women, in particular, have been virtually invisible within the career field. Many people assume that choosing a career should be easy for women with high intelligence and multiple gifts; however, the challenges to occupational choice for gifted women are frequently amplified because they are expected to use their talents while conforming to societal expectations of them as women. In this article, the authors seek to enhance awareness of some of these issues by first discussing one gifted woman's difficulties and then addressing treatment issues, using an ecological perspective.     

Is It Good to be Gifted? The Social Construction of the Gifted Child

There is growing evidence that children labelled as academically gifted are subjected to negative attitudes from others and that this impacts on their self‐esteem and motivation to succeed. Through an analysis of British newspaper stories about gifted children, this article explores the socially constructed nature of the concept of the ‘gifted child’ and finds that children identified as gifted academically are framed more negatively than those who are exceptionally able in music or sport. The article questions the growing practice of labelling children as academically gifted in English schools given the negative stereotypes that surround this classification.     

Do High School Gifted Programs Lead to Later-in-Life Success?

This paper investigates the effects of participation in gifted education programs, and offers several contributions to existing research. First, this paper studies the effects of high school programs, as opposed to the more commonly-studied elementary and middle school versions. Second, this paper considers impacts of gifted programs on later-in-life socioeconomic success, including college graduation and eventual employment, as opposed to short-run standardized test outcomes. Third, this paper uses sibling fixed effects, coupled with a recently-proposed decomposition method, as an identification approach. The main conclusion is that gifted programs tend to include students who possess traits that already correlate with later-in-life success. After controlling for those traits, gifted programs, per se, show little statistical relationship to later-in-life outcomes.     

Reciprocity Counseling: Practice and Research*

This paper reviews the literature on reciprocity counseling. Evidence is presented for the usefulness of reciprocity counseling with young, well educated, white clients with slight to moderate marital distress. Research into the effectiveness of several components of reciprocity counseling including contracting, problem solving training and feedback is reviewed. Findings suggest that contracting alone is an important positive influence in increasing couples' reciprocating reinforcement. The impact of problem solving training is unclear. Sex of the therapist may influence husband and wife outcomes in problem solving training differentially. Couples' performance of problem-solving behavior appears to be under the control of other as yet unspecified variables. Feedback as a single treatment has unpredictable and sometimes negative results. Therefore use of feedback alone or without careful supervision appears questionable at this time. Issues raised for further research include use of token economies for more severely distressed couples, use of multiple therapists, and the development of a classification scheme for the severity of marital distress.     

FAMILY THERAPY WITH INTELLECTUALLY AND CREATIVELY GIFTED CHILDREN

Few family therapists have expertise in the psychology of giftedness, and little research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of family therapy with talented children and their families. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to provide family therapists with information on the unique psychosocial stressors associated with giftedness and (2) to stimulate further research and development on the efficacy of family therapy in alleviating distress and actualizing potential in gifted and talented children and their families. The paper provides a critical overview of the existing research literature on gifted children and their families. First, current conceptualizations of giftedness are described. Then the research literature on the characteristics of intellectually and creatively gifted children and their families is reviewed with an emphasis on the endogenous (individual) and exogenous (systemic) factors that can create or exacerbate psychosocial problems. Finally, we suggest an eclectic, eco-systemic approach to three common concerns that bring gifted children and their families to therapy.     

Career Counseling in Japan: Today and in the Future

The number of young people who postpone their career decision is increasing in Japan, as is the high unemployment rate. In companies, on the other hand, the traditional seniority system and lifetime employment, which once provided job security for corporate employees, began to collapse. Employees' work ethics and corporate attitudes toward workers have also changed. Under such circumstances, career counseling is the focus of public attention. In this article written in 1999, the author examines some problems in Japan's career counseling, compared with career counseling in the U.S., and discusses which course Japan's career counseling should take to cope with dramatic social changes.     

Confidentiality in Substance Abuse Counseling

ABSTRACT

This paper will discuss confidentiality issues in the field of social work, specifically when working in addictions. Exceptions to the Code of Ethics and the Federal statute on Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Patients are discussed. Specific cases are examined around the populations of clients with HIV/AIDS and adolescence. Implications for practice and future directions are considered.     

Assumptions Regarding Vocational Counseling

Vocational counseling interviews involve the client and counselor in viewing each other, as the term inter-view indicates. As counseling begins, counselor and client view each other's assumptions about the nature of counseling processes and outcomes. Clients have assumptions about the kind of help they need to make occupational choices, what they can expect of counselors, what they can expect from any tests used, what they may be asked to do, and what will occur in the total process. Counselors need to understand the kinds of results clients expect from vocational counseling. Many assumptions, when held by either clients or counselors, lead to client (and possibly counselor) dissatisfaction with counseling because the assumptions build false anticipations for the client. Essentially, both clients and counselors often expect more definite outcomes and less effort from each party than is reasonable. This paper is written to promote counselors' reflections on their own and their clients' vocational counseling assumptions.     

Understanding Career Plateauing: Implications for Counseling

The pyramidal shape of most organizations dictates that virtually all careers will level out before an employee reaches the top of the institution, agency, or corporation. How to maintain or enhance worker productivity and job satisfaction when an employee remains at a career level that discourages one's aspirations are concerns for career counselors, their clients, and organizational executives. This article defines career plateauing, explains types and sources of plateauing, and suggests counseling interventions that can help individuals to recognize and adjust to plateauing. In addition, we recommend proactive measures that will perpetuate the work motivation of effectively-performing plateaued workers as well as remediate the work behavior of the ineffective, plateaued worker. One of life's maxims is that all careers reach a level after which no higher achievement can be expected. From night watchguard to chief executive officer, each person's career has its apex. Thus, career plateauing is inevitable for all who strive and struggle in the work world (Bardwick, 1986). The point in time when an individual will experience, if not recognize, career plateauing is difficult to predict as is the extent to which that person can influence the timing or impact of this phenomenon.     

The Self as Public Property: Made in Israel

This article examines the connection between state order and self‐understandings in everyday life through a case study of the “Boarding School for Gifted Disadvantaged” in Israel. It includes content analysis of governmental protocols that documented the establishment of the boarding school (governmental constitution of a new self‐concept) and interviews with sixty of its graduates (self‐understandings in everyday life). The findings reveal how the new cultural order invented a new selfhood, “gifted disadvantaged,” previously unknown in Israel. This category is based on structural distinctions between being “naturally” gifted versus the governmental constitution of gifted status. Interviews with graduates indicate that they experience selfhood as a philanthropic gift bestowed on them by the state of Israel and voice their gratitude toward the state. The concluding discussion suggests that the graduates experience their selfhood as “public property.” The self, perceived as having been constructed from outside, is in a continuous dialectic between the presence and the absence of certain personal qualities.     

Intimate Relationships of the Intellectually Gifted: Attachment Style,Conflict Style,and Relationship Satisfaction Among Members of the Mensa Society

To date relatively little is known about the intimate relationships of the intellectually gifted and the way they attach themselves to and handle conflicts with their intimate partner. The present study examined these issues by examining the relationship between attachment styles, conflict styles, and relationship quality in a sample of 196 adult members of the Mensa society. These results were compared with findings from a general community sample (n = 145). Results showed that, overall, Mensa members showed similar levels of relationship quality compared with the control sample but also tended to deal less constructively with conflicts and reported higher levels of fearful attachment. Analyses showed that the relations between relationship quality, conflict styles, and attachment were comparable in the two samples, with the exception of the role of fearful attachment in the relationship. Conflict styles mediated the relations between attachment and relationship quality in both samples. Results are discussed in light of the scarce knowledge on the intimate relationships of the gifted.     

Counselor Involvement in Marriage and Family Counseling*

Using a communications framework, a rationale is suggested for determining when a counselor's use of four basic communication styles is likely to be helpful, neutral, or harmful. High disclosure counselor styles are generally seen to be less harmful than may have been previously supposed. Counselor involvement in the style of the high disclosure speech, which conveys an attitude of openness to the clients' reality, is seen as the most. effective form of confrontation. Withholding self by failing to use high disclosure styles, especially in the presence of high rapport, is considered less than satisfactory counselor activity     

Difficult Cases in Career Counseling: IV— Floundering and Occupational Moratorium

This paper is the fourth in a series of articles dealing with difficult counseling problems encountered by career counselors. Clinicians need to understand the underlying causes of floundering behavior and the reasons that propel some people to retreat to a career and psychological moratorium. This article focuses on young adults in career transition and underscores their needs for greater self-understanding. Resources for career counseling suggestions are noted within the context of a traditional five-stage career counseling model.     

Career Counseling Is Personal Counseling

Despite many changes that have occurred in the field of career counseling, counselors continue to rely on models of counseling that emphasize the rational, informational aspects of career decision making. The author argues that career counselors need to pay more attention to the affective, psychological issues confronting clients with career problems. The impact of significant psychological variables that influence career decision making are discussed: developmental stages and tasks, identity formation and status, self-concept, psychological needs, and internal barriers.     

Classification,Subjectivities, and Personal Visibility

This article proposes extending the empirical sociological debate regarding the complex ways social classifications construct scenarios of subjectivity. Based on the case study of the Boarding School for the Gifted Disadvantaged in Israel, the article describes how a new cultural order created a new scenario of subjectivity (“gifted disadvantaged”) that had not been known before. This scenario was shaped in relation both to the ethnic classification in Israel, as well as to two social categories that were well‐known in the educational field (“gifted” and “disadvantaged”). To understand the institutional dynamics involved in the construction of a new scenario of subjectivity, content analysis of the organizational documents that accompanied the founding of the school was carried out, and in‐depth interviews with graduates of the school were conducted in order to understand how those who populate the new scenario experience their subjectivity years after its construction. The findings indicate a specific connection between classifications, subjectivity, and personal visibility. Specifically, the study reveals a number of phenomenological aspects that enhance the experience of visibility: the cognitive identification of two types of self; the experience of cognitive liminality; and the consciousness of having a subjectivity deserving of special nurturance.     

Wealth, race/ethnicity, and children's educational outcomes

We examine the extent to which disparities in wealth by race/ethnicity are related to gaps in children's educational outcomes, and find that family socio-demographics and parental resources account for a substantial proportion of black/white and Hispanic/white disparities in children's participation in gifted programs, extracurricular activities and grade retention. Black children, however, continue to face high risk of expulsion or suspension from school relative to white children even in models that control for a rich set of socio-demographic and economic characteristics. The adjusted risk of expulsion and suspension faced by Hispanic children is found to be lower than that for white children. Indicators of wealth, after controlling for all other factors, had statistically significant associations with all outcomes except a child's suspension or expulsion from school. Having a checking or savings account was independently associated with participation in gifted programs and extracurricular activities.     

Young people's time use and maternal employment in the UK1

This paper analyses the relationship between young people's time use and maternal employment in the United Kingdom (UK). Two dimensions of young people's time use are important for understanding the impact of maternal employment. The first of these is family context. This concerns the time young people are near their parents or not. The second relates to young people's activity patterns. Combining information from both dimensions is necessary to provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of maternal employment on young people's time use. The paper demonstrates that young people's time use is associated with maternal employment both in terms of activity patterns and family context. Young people with employed mothers spend more time alone with a father, and more time with neither parent. More specifically, young people with mothers employed fulltime (FT) spend significantly more time watching TV than those whose mothers are not employed, especially when they are not near any parents. There is a negative association between FT maternal employment and the time young people spend in achievement‐related activities, concentrated in time when alone with a mother. Unlike time in leisure activities or time watching TV, time in achievement‐related activities when in the presence of a father does not increase to compensate for the loss in time spent in achievement‐related activities when alone with a mother.