Doing Well and Doing Good: Achievement and Social Life Goals of Gifted Korean Youths

This study examined life-goal profiles among Korean gifted adolescents, focusing on two domains: achievement/career-oriented goals and social/relationship-oriented goals. Rather than assuming that gifted students are uniformly performance-driven, the study explored whether students who strongly endorsed both goal domains (dual-goal orientation) differed from students who reported comparatively lower endorsement of both domains (low-goal orientation). Independent-samples t-tests results indicated that the students from the two goal profile groups differed across several domains of academic and psychosocial experience. The dual-goal students reported significantly higher middle-school GPA, more supportive family environment, and higher paternal participation than low-goal students. They also perceived more advantages of being identified as gifted such as greater access to diverse opportunities. The groups did not differ, however, in study-related stress. Supplementary bivariate regression results show that the dual-goal profile was most clearly distinguished by family support, paternal involvement, and positive perceptions of giftedness as a source of confidence and opportunity. Findings suggest that, in the Korean gifted education context, achievement and social goals may be mutually reinforcing rather than competing. The study highlights the role of family support, competence beliefs, and culturally embedded social purpose in adaptive gifted development.