lead to the development of psychological disorders (Swiatek, 2001).
Second, because of their exceptional abilities, gifted adolescents and children also feel pressured to fulfill the high expectations of their parents, teachers and friends. Perfectionist parents who constantly push their gifted children to reach ever higher standards of excellence often place excessive stress on the latter (Ablard & Parker, 1997). In the educational context, gifted students who are placed in a special class with other gifted students also experience heightened stress as they seek to compete successfully with their gifted peers in a highly challenging learning environment. Even when they are placed in regular classrooms with typical peers, they are also expected to live up to their label by their teachers and peers (Zeidner & Schleyer, 1999).
In this paper, the research studies that address the issue of the social and emotional development of gifted adolescents will be analyzed to identify the areas of consensus and controversies. The seven research studies have been selected because they offer multiple perspectives for investigating the social and emotional challenges and perceptions of gifted children and adolescents. First, the self-perceptions of gifted subjects towards the pressures and expectations associated with their giftedness are studied. Second, the responses of gifted subjects towards these stressors such as their social coping strategies are also considered. In both of these types of research studies, the relationships of the gifted subjects' self-perceptions and social coping strategies with their self-concept are also studied. Third, the impact of their family and educational environment on the gifted subjects is also studied because they play a large role in shaping the social and emotional development of gifted adolescents.
In the studies on the self-perceptions and coping responses of gifted adolesce...