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Article Excerpt
Research suggests advanced students may regard their abilities as a social stressor--a factor hindering normal social interaction (Coleman & Cross, 1988; Cross, Coleman, & Stewart, 1993; Manaster, Chan, Watt, & Wiehe, 1994; Manor-Bullock, Look, & Dixon, 1995). In response, these students may feel forced to choose between overtly acknowledging and revealing their talents, which may hurt their chances of social acceptance but allows them to achieve academic excellence, and hiding their abilities, which may derail their chances of academic excellence but preserve their social status. One group of students who may be put in a position of making such a choice are those in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs: two of the most common methods of serving advanced students in high schools. The College Board provides syllabi and exams for over 30 AP courses from which a school may choose courses to offer. Students can elect any number of courses from the array offered in their school (College Board, 2005). AP courses are more widely offered than the IB program (International Baccalaureate Organization [IBO], 2003, 2005), which is a program of study that involves completion of a prescribed number of required courses, exams, essays, and projects during the last two years of high school (IBO, 2003).
Therefore, the question emerges: Do the participants in these programs feel forced to choose between social acceptance and academic success? Have they already made a choice by enrolling in these courses?
THE FORCED CHOICE OF ADVANCED STUDENTS
Advanced learners, in general, are intellectually curious, show initiative and flexibility in thinking, exhibit great efficiency in problem-solving (Renzulli, n.d.; Saul, 1999), learn at a fast pace, understand advanced and complex concepts (Janos & Robinson, 1985; Karnes & Oehler-Stinnett, 1986; Renzulli; Tannenbaum, 1983), and are able to apply those concepts in novel situations (Renzulli). Although they differ cognitively, the research has not supported inherent social/ emotional differences between advanced students and the general population, nor is there solid evidence of specific vulnerabilities associated with advanced intellectual ability. However, some advanced learners might face problems that inhibit positive social/emotional development as a result of the interaction between their predispositions (e.g., anxiety and perfectionism, cognitive and emotional intensity and sensitivity, and asynchrony in development) and their environment (e.g., educational placement, social networks, and level of support for their special needs from significant others; Robinson, 2002).
A manifestation of one such problematic interaction between advanced intellectual ability and social context is the perception of one's own advanced intellectual abilities as a social stressor, a trait hindering normal social interaction. This belief forms the basis of the Stigma of Giftedness paradigm (SGP; e.g., Coleman & Cross, 1988). According to SGP, the result of believing others regard giftedness as a differentiating factor may be that giftedness becomes a stressor in certain social contexts, thus thwarting normal social interaction (Coleman & Cross, 1988; Cross et al., 1993; Manaster et al., 1994; Manor-Bullock et al., 1995). In other words, some gifted students believe that when others view them as gifted, they are perceived as different and are treated as such.
The data from a number of research studies suggest that in order to avoid the "perceived negative social effects of recognized high ability" (Swiatek, 2002, p. 66), gifted adolescents may employ social coping strategies, such as displaying interest in anti-intellectual, pop culture topics and activities; withdrawing from enjoyed activities that others see as "nerdy;" intentionally doing poorly on tests; failing to hand in assignments; never volunteering answers in class; and even denying their own giftedness (Brown & Steinberg, 1990; Chan, 2003, 2004, 2005; Rudasill, Foust, & Callahan, 2007; Swiatek, 2001, 2002; Swiatek & Doff, 1998). Tannenbaum (1983) explained the students' dilemma:
There is evidence to show that the gifted are influenced by their peers', parents', and teachers' feelings about their abilities. If they are seen as mental freaks, unhealthy personalities, or eccentrics simply because they are brainy or creative, many of them will avoid the stigma through conformity. Some would rather underachieve and be popular than achieve honor status and receive social ostracism. (p. 466)
Gross (1989) describes this conflict in gifted students as a forced choice dilemma.
THE FORCED CHOICE DILEMMA
The forced choice dilemma as described by Gross (1989) posits that all gifted students face a conflict between their drives to pursue intimacy and to achieve at high levels, placing them in situations where they must choose one or the other. Most students strive both to cultivate meaningful relationships with their peers and family and to achieve to the best of their abilities; however, pursuing both requires extensive time and effort, and pursuing one takes time away from the pursuit of the other. With the extensive pressure to pursue academic excellence that gifted students report (Sowa, McIntire, May, & Bland, 1994), gifted children experiencing the forced choice dilemma feel that they must choose either academic excellence or intimacy, while students of average ability can theoretically pursue both simultaneously. Furthermore, Gross postulated that gifted students' perception of a stigma attached to giftedness exacerbates the dilemma, as it becomes a choice not only of time allocation, but between fulfilling one's own academic expectations and being socially accepted. Therefore,
If the gifted child chooses to satisfy the drive for excellence, he or she must risk forfeiting the attainment of intimacy with age peers. If the choice is intimacy, the gifted may be forced into a pattern of systematic and deliberate underachievement to retain membership in the social group. (Gross)
THE CURRENT STUDY
Gross's (1989) theory of the forced choice dilemma has yet to be tested with a sample of advanced students, despite the bleak implications of this dilemma for students if it were true that gifted students could either be academically successful and a social outcast or socially successful and an academic underachiever. In order to explore the validity of this dilemma with advanced students, we sampled current and former Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) participants.
METHODS
Sampling Rationale
Twenty-three high schools from seven states were selected for participation in a larger study...
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