Do academically gifted and nongifted students differ on the Big-Five and adaptive status? Some recent data and conclusions

This study examined a representative sample of academically gifted (N = 374) and non-gifted (N = 428) Israeli high-school students in order to compare these different student populations on the Big-Five and adaptive outcomes. Consistent with prior research, gifted students scored higher than non-gifted peers on Openness to Experience but scored lower on Neuroticism. In addition, gifted students scored lower on state anxiety facets and were not reliably different from their nongifted counterparts on mental distress or subjective well being. Overall, the empirical data are consistent with recent research suggesting that when gifted students are compared with nongifted students on various socio-emotional and personality characteristics, the results are not unfavorable to gifted students. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.