Research With Gifted Adults: What International Experts Think Needs to Happen to Move the Field Forward

ABSTRACT

Interest in understanding gifted adults is growing amongst health professionals, researchers, educators, and gifted adults themselves. This study brings together international experts studying and working with gifted adults to find out what they think about the state of research in the area, and what is needed to move the field forward. Three rounds of a Delphi study involving 76 experts from 14 countries identified nine themes related to obstacles, priorities and actions, and six key recommendations. General agreement was found on the need for cross-disciplinary research and a multicultural approach. A range of views was expressed about how to move forward with different and potentially conflicting conceptual definitions. The multidisciplinary panel broadly supported six recommendations, with important differences of opinion in relation to methodological preferences and conceptual definitions. Implications for further work are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• adult giftedness
• Delphi study
• gifted adult
• gifted and talented adults
• qualitative methodologies
• thematic analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. A deeper and more fine-grained analysis of the data using a different and wider lens was also conducted but is beyond the scope of the current paper and is described elsewhere (Brown, in preparation).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maggie Brown

Maggie Brown is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and works as a counselor and psychotherapist in private practice. She has a specific interest in working with gifted and creative adults. Her research is focused on understanding how to improve knowledge about this under-researched group. Email: [email protected]

Elizabeth R. Peterson

Elizabeth R. Peterson is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Most of her research is focused on trying to understand the factors, processes, and pathways that optimize human learning and development and that promote happy, healthy, well rounded, and resilient young people. She is particularly interested in how people’s self-beliefs and expectations affect their wellbeing, learning, and educational outcomes. Elizabeth is a lead researcher on Growing Up in New Zealand, a multidisciplinary longitudinal study following approximately 7,000 New Zealand children. Email: [email protected]

Catherine Rawlinson

Catherine Rawlinson is a senior lecturer in Education in the School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, the University of Auckland. Her research interests are in gifted education, academic self-concept, and peer mentoring. She is a registered primary school teacher. Email: [email protected]