Factors that differentiate underachieving gifted students from high-achieving gifted students

The purpose of this study was to examine whether gifted achievers and gifted underachievers differ in their general academic self-perceptions, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, motivation and self-regulation, and goal valuation. The sample consisted of 56 gifted underachievers and 122 gifted achievers from 28 high schools nationwide. Gifted achievers and gifted underachievers differed in their attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, motivation/self-regulation, and goal valuation, but not their academic self-perceptions. In addition, the logistic regression analysis correctly classified over 81% of the sample as either gifted achievers or gifted underachievers using their motivation/self-regulation and goal valuation self-ratings. This study represents an important step toward quantifying factors related to the underachievement of gifted adolescents.