Educational Characteristics of Adolescents With Gifted Academic Intrinsic Motivation: A Longitudinal Investigation From School Entry Through Early Adulthood

Abstract

The construct of gifted motivation was examined in a contemporary, long-term, longitudinal investigation. Adolescents with extremely high academic intrinsic motivation (i.e., gifted motivation) were compared to their cohort peer comparison on a variety of educationally relevant measures from elementary school through the early adulthood years. Assessment of academic intrinsic motivation was based on the Children’s Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Cross-time, pervasive differences resulted favoring the gifted motivation compared to the cohort comparison group on motivation, achievement, classroom functioning, intellectual performance, self-concept, and postsecondary educational progress. Meaningful effect sizes were obtained and corroborated by teachers’ observations. Gifted motivation proved to be distinct from gifted intelligence. This research serves to expand the definition of giftedness to include the construct of gifted motivation in its own right. These findings have implications for identifying students with gifted motivation for entry into programs for the gifted.

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