Social-perspective coordination and gifted adolescents’ friendship quality

Abstract

This research examined links among academic ability, social-perspective coordination, and friendship quality, within the context of gifted adolescents’ friendships. The sample consisted of 120 early adolescents (59 girls, 61 boys), 81 of whom were identified as gifted. Academic ability, sex, and grade significantly predicted social-perspective coordination (an indicator of psychosocial maturity) in multiple regression analyses. Social-perspective coordination, perceptions (self-concept) of ability to make and keep friends, academic ability, sex, and grade predicted perceptions of the overall quality of friendships. Being a female, seventh grader, or adolescent not identified as gifted, significantly predicted higher friendship quality. Social-perspective coordination and self-concept based on having a close friend predicted higher levels of friendship quality for the gifted participants.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• friendship
• friendship quality
• gifted
• self-concept
• social-perspective coordination

Acknowledgments

We thank the administration, teachers, and students at the Riverside School Board in suburban Montreal, Quebec, Canada for their participation in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture.