The Perceived Competence of Intellectually Talented Students

Upper primary gifted boys and girls were compared with nongifted children on self-perceptions of competence in four areas: cognitive, physical, social, and general self-worth. Gifted students perceived themselves as more competent than their nongifted peers in the cognitive and general self-worth areas, but not in the physical and social areas. Of the gifted children, those in a full-time segregated program had relatively lower perceived cognitive and physical competence than those in a part-time extension program. Sex differences were also observed.