Perceived Competence and Parent-Adolescent Communication in High Ability Adolescent Females

Adolescent females have been largely ignored in previous research on high ability youth, despite the social pressures and family conflicts they may experience as a result of their efforts to achieve commensurate with their high abilities. The present study investigates the self-concepts (perceived competence) and quality of parent-adolescent communication in 60 high ability adolescent females, including 42 who left home to enroll in an early college entrance program and 18 who attended more traditional high school programs. Results indicate that the quality of parent-adolescent communication for these young women: (1) varies widely with both mothers and fathers; and (2) is consistently associated with perceived competence in both academic and non-academic areas. As a group, the young women have above-average academic and overall perceived competence, but IQ is negatively correlated with perceived competence in non-academic areas.