Nonintellectual correlates of satisfaction with acceleration: A longitudinal study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Gifted Education

Background:

• Educational acceleration is a common practice for intellectually gifted students.
• The role of non-intellectual personal attributes in the success of acceleration is often assumed but not empirically validated.
• Previous research has not consistently identified key non-intellectual factors influencing satisfaction with acceleration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between non-intellectual personal attributes and satisfaction with educational acceleration among intellectually gifted students.
• To determine if specific personality traits or values predict satisfaction with acceleration.
• To evaluate the appropriateness of non-intellectual factors in the selection and evaluation of students in accelerative programs.

Main Methods:

• Two longitudinal studies surveyed gifted students (top 1% ability) at ages 18 and 23.
• Participants had previously utilized educational acceleration.
• Analyses included surveys and assessments like the Adjective Check List and Study of Values for a subgroup.

Main Results:

• No strong relationships were found between non-intellectual factors and satisfaction with acceleration at either age.
• Few statistically significant correlations were identified in subgroup analyses.
• The significant correlations that were found were small in magnitude.

Conclusions:

• Non-intellectual personal attributes appear to have limited predictive power regarding satisfaction with educational acceleration.
• The assumption that these attributes are crucial for selecting or evaluating students in acceleration programs may be unfounded.
• Further research may be needed to identify more relevant predictors of success in acceleration.