The Big-Five-Personality and Academic Self-Concept in Gifted and Non-Gifted Students: A Systematic Review of Literature

Abstract

Gifted students provide interesting opportunities for careers in all professional areas. To benefit from that chance, the promotion of gifted students moves more and more into focus of educational research and becomes an important facet of today’s teachers’ professional competencies. To meet these requirements, teacher training courses must be offered which are based on current state of research. This article presents a systematic literature review which investigates the current research state regarding quantitative studies of gifted students’ personality and self-concept. To assess a comparable state of research about the personality of gifted students the Big-Five model of personality was considered as a criterion for admission. A total of 40 quantitative studies was included. Results for personality of gifted students show that there are only a few studies which deliver comparable and valid data. Gifted students’ academic self-concept seems well researched, but indications of a multilayered subject specific academic self-concept receive little attention. Recommendations include a higher focus on students gifted in specific subjects, to find valid implications for their individual promotion.