Predicting Factors of Gifted Students’ Life Satisfaction and Identifying Their Sub-Profiles

Abstract

This study explored factors associated with the life satisfaction of gifted students using PISA 2015 data and identified heterogeneous sub-profiles within the gifted group. 356,544 students from 50 countries were analyzed, with gifted students defined as the academically top 5% within each country. Student final weights were applied throughout, and all analyses were repeated across 10 Plausible Value sets and integrated using Rubin’s rules. Weighted t-tests revealed that gifted students had higher socioeconomic status, home educational resources, and achievement motivation, and lower test anxiety, but no significant differences in life satisfaction. Weighted K-means cluster analysis (k = 4) yielded four sub-profiles: Holistically Thriving, Resilient Low-SES, Resource-Rich Disengaged, and Isolated & At-Risk. Permutation importance from a weighted random forest identified school belonging as the most important variable associated with high life satisfaction, followed by test anxiety and teacher support. These findings highlight the importance of relational experiences in understanding gifted students’ well-being.