This retrospective study of professionally successful adults who were academic underachievers during adolescence (N = 31) explored the phenomenological experience of underachievement, with particular focus on potentially interactive factors that might be associated with onset. maintenance, and reversal of underachievement. Underinvolved and nonencouraging parents and teachers, negative parental attitudes toward work, family conflict, lack of career direction, and family transitions were found to be associated with underachievement. Both the adolescents and their parents achieved in nonacademic areas. Findings suggest that personality factors, achiever role models outside of the family, developmental task accomnplishmrent, changes in location, and new academic courses may contribute to reversal of underachievement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Akhtar, S., & Kramer, S. (1997). The seasons of life: Separation-individuation perspectives. Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
2.
Baker, J. A., Bridger, R., & Evans, K. (1998). Models of underachievement among gifted preadolescents: The role of personal, family, and school factors. Gifted Child Quarterly, 42, 5-15.
3.
Baum, S. M., Renzulli, J. S., & Hebert, T. P. (1995). Reversing underachievement: Creative productivity as a systematic intervention. Gifted Child Quarterly, 39, 224-235.
4.
Beardslee, M. D., & Podorefsky, M. A. (1988). Resilient adolescents whose parents have serious affective and other psychiatric disorders: Importance of self-understanding and relationships. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 63-69.
5.
Bergman, A. & Fahey, M. (1997). Autonomy and the need for the caretaking other: Data from a longitudinal study. In S. Akhtar & S. Kramer (Eds.), The seasons of life: Separation-individuation perspectives (pp. 25-50). Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
6.
Best, K. M., Hauser, S. T., & Allen, J. P. (1997). Predicting young adult competencies: Adolescent era parent and individual influences. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 90-112.
7.
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York: Aronson.
8.
Butler-Por, N. (1987). Underachievers in school. New York: Wiley.
9.
Callahan, C. M., Cornell, D. G., & Loyd, B. (1990). Perceived competence and parent-adolescent communication in high-ability adolescent females. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 13, 256-269.
10.
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Devine, D., Kempton, T., & Forehand, R. (1994). Adolescent depressed mood and young adult functioning: A longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 629-641.
12.
Dowdall, C. B., & Colangelo, N. (1982). Underachieving gifted students: Review and implications. Gifted Child Quarterly, 26, 179-184.
13.
Dweck, C. S. (1975). The role of expectations and attributions in the alleviation of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 674-685.
14.
Eigen, C. A., Hartman, B. W., & Hartman, P. T. (1987). Relations between family interaction patterns and career indecision. Psychological Reports, 60, 87-94.
15.
Emerick, L. J. (1992). Academic underachievement among the gifted: Students' perceptions of factors that reverse the pattern. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36, 140-146.
16.
Fabricius, J. (1998). Refusal of autonomy: The use of words by a young adult in analysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 46, 105-120.
17.
Fenell, D. L., & Weinhold, B. K. (1997). Counseling families: An introduction to marriage and family therapy (2nd ed.). Denver: Love.
18.
Frey, J., III, & Wendorf, D. J. (1985). Families of gifted children. In L. L'Abate (Ed.), The handbook offamily psychology and therapy (Vol. II; pp. 781-809). Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
19.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.
20.
Glasgow, K. L., Dornbusch, S. M., Troyer, L., Steinberg, L., & Ritter, P. L. (1997). Parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and educational outcomes in nine heterogeneous high schools. Child Development, 68, 507-729.
21.
Haggard, E. A. (1957). Socialization, personality, and academic achievement in gifted children. School Review, 65, 388-414.
22.
Hartman, B. W., Fuqua, D. R., & Blum, C. R. (1985). A path-analytic model of career indecision. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 37, 231-240.
23.
Higgins, G. O. (1994). Resilient adults: Overcoming a cruel past. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
24.
Jenkins-Friedman, R., & Tollefson, N. (1992). Resiliency in cognition and motivation: Its applicability to giftedness. In N. Colangelo, S. G. Assouline, & D. L. Ambrosen (Eds.), Talent development: Proceedingsfrom the 1991 Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development. Unionville, NY: Trillium.
25.
Kaplan, A. G., & Klein, R. (1985). The relational self in late adolescent women. Works in Progress (No. 17). Wellesley, MA: Stone Center Working Papers Series.
26.
Kaufrnann, F. A. (1999). The courage to succeed: Another look at underachievement. In S. Kline & K. Hegeman (Eds.), Gifted education in the 21st century: Issues and concerns (pp. 175-189). New York: Winslow Press.
27.
Kenny, J. E., & Donaldson, G. A. (1992). The relationship of parental attachment and psychological separation to the adjustment of first-year college women. Journal of College Student Development, 33, 431-438.
28.
Khatena, J. (1982). Educationalpsychology of the gifted. New York: Wiley.
29.
Kline & K. Hegeman (Eds.), Gifted education in the 21st century: Issues and concerns (pp. 175-189). New York: Winslow Press.
30.
Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the selMadison, CT: International Universities Press.
31.
Kolb, K. J., & Jussim, L. (1994). Teacher expectations and underachieving gifted children. Roeper Review, 17, 26-30.
32.
Laffoon, K. S., Jenkins-Friedman, R., & Tollefson, N. (1989). Causal attributions of underachieving gifted, achieving gifted, and nongifted students. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 13, 4-21.
33.
Larson, J. H., & Wilson, S. M. (1998). Family of origin influences on young adult career decision problems: A test of Bowenian theory. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 26(1), 39-53.
34.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
35.
Lopez, F. G. (1986). Family structure and depression: Implications for the counseling of depressed college students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 64, 508-511.
36.
Lopez, F. G., Campbell, V. L., & Watkins, C. E. (1988). Family structure, psychological separation, and college adjustment: A canonical analysis and cross-validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 35, 402-409.
37.
Lovecky, D. (1992). Exploring social and emotional aspects of giftedness in children. Roeper Review, 15, 18-25.
38.
Luby, L. W. (1981). A longitudinal comparison of IQ in academically successful and unsuccessful mentally gifted high school students and an analysis of personal, family, and school differences. Dissertation Abstracts International, 41, 3161B-3162B.
39.
Marland, S. P. Jr. (1972). Education of the gifted and talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U. S. Commissioner of Education and background papers submitted to the U.S. Office of Education, 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 056243)
40.
Minuchin, S. (1985). Families and individual development: Provocations from the field of family therapy. Child Development, 56, 289-302.
41.
Moon, S. M., & Hall, A. S. (1998). Family therapy with intellectually and creatively gifted children. Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, 24(1), 59-80.
42.
Moon, S. M.,Jurich, J. A., & Feldhusen, J. F. (1998). Families of gifted children: Cradles of development. In R. C. Friedman & K. B. Rogers (Eds.), Talent in context: Historical and social perspectives on giftedness (pp. 81-100). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
43.
Mouw, J. T., & Khanna, R. K. (1993). Prediction of academic success: A review of the literature and some recommendations. College Student Journal, 27, 328-336.
44.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
45.
Newman, C. J., Dember, C. F., & Krug, O. (1973). “He can but he won't”: A psychodynamic study of so-called “gifted underachievers.”Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 28, 83-129.
46.
Onatsu-Arvilommi, T. P., & Nurmi, J. (1997). Family back-ground and problems at school and in society: The role of family composition, emotional atmosphere, and parental education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 12, 315-330.
47.
Perosa, S. L., & Perosa, L. M. (1997). Intergenerational family theory and Kohut's self-psychology constructs applied to college females. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 143-156.
48.
Perosa, L. M., Perosa, S. L., & Tam, H. P. (1996). The contribution of family structure and differentiation to identity development in females. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 25, 817-837.
49.
Peterson, J. S. (1995). Talk with teens about feelings, family, relationships, and the future: 50 guided discussions for school and other groups. Minneapolis: Free Spirit.
50.
Peterson, J. S. (1997). Bright, tough, and resilient-and not in a gifted program. The Journal for Secondary Gifted Education, 8, 121-136.
51.
Peterson, J. S., & Colangelo, N. (1996). Gifted achievers and underachievers: A comparison of patterns found in school files. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 399-407.
52.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1989). Phenomenological research methods. In R. S. Valle & S. Hailing (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology (pp. 41-60). New York: Plenum.
53.
Plucker, J. A., & Yecke, C. P. (1999). The effect of relocation on gifted students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 43, 95-106.
54.
Rak, C., & Patterson, L. E. (1996). Promoting resilience in at-risk children. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 368-373.
55.
Redding, R. E. (1990). Learning preferences and skill patterns among underachieving gifted adolescents. Gifted Child Quarterly, 34, 72-75.
56.
Rice, K. G. (1992). Separation-individuation and adjustment to college: A longitudinal study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 39, 302-313.
57.
Rimm, S. (1989). Disappearance of underachievement. Gifted Child Today, 12(2), 36-39.
58.
Rimm, S. (1995). Why bright kids get poor grades. New York: Crown.
59.
Rimm, S. B., & Lovance, K. J. (1992). The use of subject and grade skipping for the prevention and reversal of underachievement. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36, 199-205.
60.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.
61.
Smith, J. (1995). Temperament and stress resilience in schoolage children: A within-families study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 168-179.
62.
Steinberg, L., Dornbusch, S. M., & Brown, B. B. (1992). Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement: An ecological perspective. American Psychologist, 47, 723-729.
63.
Taris, T. W., & Bok, I. A. (1966). Parenting environment and scholastic achievement during adolescence: A retrospective study. International Journal of Adolescence & Youth, 6, 223-244.
64.
Thombs, D. L. (1995). Problem behavior and academic achievement among first-semester college freshmen. Journal of College Student Development, 36, 280-288.
65.
Tucker, B., & Hafenstein, N. L. (1997). Psychological intensities in young gifted learners. Gifted Child Quarterly, 41, 66-75.
66.
U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1993). National excellence: A case for developing America's talent. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
67.
VanTassel-Baska, J. L., & Olszewski-Kubilius, P. (Eds.). (1989). Patterns of influence on gifted learners: The home, the seaf and the school. New York: Teachers College Press.
68.
Webb, J. T., & Kleine, P. A. (1993). Assessing gifted and talented children. In J. L. Culbertson & D. J. Willis (Eds.), Testing young children: A reference guide for developmental, psychoeducational, and psychosocial assessments (pp. 383-407). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
69.
Werner, E. E. (1986). Resilient children. Young Children, 40, 68-72.
70.
Whitmore, J. R. (1980). Giftedness, conflict, and underachievement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
71.
Whitmore, J. R. (1986). Understanding a lack of motivation to excel. Gifted Child Quarterly, 30, 66-69.
72.
Wolfe, R. N., & Johnson, S. D. (1995). Personality as a pre-dictor of college performance. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55, 177-185.
