This study examined the antecedents and correlates of general life satisfaction as reported by 108 gifted and talented young women. Measures of socio-affective traits, instrumentality and expressiveness, and social self esteem were obtained across, three points in time; sophomore and junior years in high school and in young adulthood. The results of the longitudinal analyses supported the predicted centrality of instrumental self perception, not only to social self esteem but also to occupational confidence and general life satisfaction. Implications for counseling gifted and talented female adolescents are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Antill, J.K., & Cunningham, J.D. (1979). Self-esteem as a function of masculinity in both sexes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 783-785.
2.
Arnold, K.D., & Denny, T. (1984, April). Academic achievement—A view from the top: The lives of high school valedictorians and salutatorians. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
3.
Bakan, D. (1966). The duality of human existence. Chicago: Rand McNally.
4.
Bem, S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155-162.
5.
Bem, S.L. (1977). On the utility of alternate procedures for assessing psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45, 196-205.
6.
Card, J.J., Steele, J., & Abeles, R.P. (1980). Sex differences in realization of individual potential for achievement. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 17, 1-20.
7.
Deaux, K. (1985). Sex and gender. In M.R. Rosenweig & L.W. Porter (Eds.), Annual review of psychology: 1985. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
8.
Eccles, J. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In J.T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motives: Psychological and sociological perspectives. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
9.
Fleming, E.S., & Hollinger, C.L. (1979). Project Choice: Creating her options in career exploration. Newton, MA: Education Development Center.
10.
Fleming, E.S., and Hollinger, C.L. (1981). The multidimensionality of talent in adolescent young women. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 4, 188-189.
11.
Fox, L.H. (1977). Sex differences: Implications for program planning for the academically gifted. In J.C. Stanley , W.C. George, & C.H. Solano (Eds.), The gifted and the creative: A fifty year perspective. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
12.
Frieze, I.H., Parsons, J.E., Johnson, P.B., Ruble, D.N., & Zellman, G.L. (1978). Women and sex roles: A social psychological perspective . New York: Norton.
13.
Helmreich, R.L., Spence, J.T. & Wilhelm, J.A. (1981). A psychonomic analysis of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Sex Roles, 7(11), 1097-1108.
14.
Helmreich, R.L., Stapp, J., & Ervin, C. (1974). The Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI): An objective measure of self-esteem for social competence. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology. 4, 79.
15.
Hollinger, C.L. (1985). The stability of self perceptions of instrumental and expressive traits and social self esteem among gifted and talented female adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 8(1), 107-126.
16.
Hollinger, C.L. (1983). Counseling the gifted and talented female adolescent: The relationship between social self esteem and traits of instrumentality and expressiveness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 27(4), 157-161.
17.
Hollinger, C.L., & Fleming, E.S. (1984). Internal barriers to the realization of potential: Correlates and interrelationships among gifted and talented female adolescents . Gifted Child Quarterly, 28(3), 135-139.
18.
Hollinger, C.L. & Fleming, E.S. (1985). Social orientation and the social self esteem of gifted and talented female adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(5), 389-399.
19.
Kaufman, F. (1981). The 1946-1968 presidential scholars: A follow-up study. Exceptional Children, 48(2), 164-169.
20.
Keating, D.P. (Ed.) (1976). Intellectual talent: Research and development. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Livesley, W.J., & Bromley, D.B. (1973). Person perception in childhood and adolescence . London: Wiley.
23.
Nunnally, J.C. (1973). Research strategies and measurement methods for investigating human development. In J.R. Nesselroade & H.W. Reese (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology. New York: Academic Press.
24.
Parsons, T., & Bales, R.F. (1955). Family, socialization and interaction process . Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
25.
Reis, S.M. (1987). We can't change what we don't recognize: Understanding the special needs of gifted females. Gifted Child Quarterly , 31 (2), 83-89.
26.
Rodenstein, J.M. & Glickhauf-Hughes, C. (1979). Career and lifestyle determinants of gifted women. In N. Colangelo & R.T. Zaffran (Eds.), New Voices in Counseling the Gifted. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt .
27.
Rodenstein, J., Pflger, L., & Colangelo, N. (1977). Career development needs of the gifted: Special considerations for gifted women. Gifted Child Quarterly, 20(3), 340-347.
28.
SAS User's Guide. (1979). Cary, NC: SAS Institute.
29.
Sears, P.S., & Barbee, A.H. (1977). Career and life satisfactions among Terman's gifted women. In J.C. Stanley, W.C. George, & C.H. Solano (Eds.). The gifted and the creative: A fifty-year perspective . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
30.
Silvern, L.E., & Ryan, V.L. (1979). Self-rated adjustment and sex-typing on the Bem Sex Role Inventory: Is masculinity the primary predictor of adjustment?Sex Roles, 5, 739-763.
31.
Spence, J.T., & Helmreich, R.L. (1981). Androgyny versus gender schema: A comment on Bem's gender schema theory. Psychological Review, 88(4), 365-368.
32.
Spence, J.T., Helmreich, R.L., Stapp, J. (1974). The personal attributes questionnaire: A measure of sex role stereotypes and masculinity-femininity. Journal Supplement Abstract Service Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology. 4(43), (MS. NO. 617).
33.
Spence, J.T., Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1975). Ratings of self and peers on sex role attributes and their relationship to self esteem and conceptions of masculinity and femininity . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 29-39.
34.
Stockard, J. & Wood, J.W. (1984). The myth of female underachievement. American Educational Research Journal, 21, 825-838.
35.
White, W.L. (1984) The perceived effects of an early enrichment experience: A fourth year follow-up study of the Speyer School experiment for gifted students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut , Storrs.
