Vocational interests of gifted adolescents

Many studies regarding vocational interests of gifted adolescents investigated samples that were pre-selected in one way or the other (e.g., participants from special schools for the gifted or from gifted counseling programs). Controversial findings resulted in part due to this sample bias. Therefore, 106 intellectually gifted adolescents (IQ¯=136) from a non-pre-selected sample were compared to a matched sample of 98 adolescents of average ability (IQ¯=103). Participants completed a questionnaire measuring vocational interests according to Holland’s (1997) theory. In analyses of variance, gender did not moderate any effects of giftedness significantly. Gifted adolescents displayed higher investigative interests (d = 0.54) and lower social interests (d = 0.38) than non-gifted adolescents. Differences between both groups regarding their realistic, artistic, enterprising, and conventional interests were negligible. A complementary analysis with a subsample of those adolescents who attended the highest high school track revealed additionally higher realistic interests (d = 0.36) and lower enterprising interests (d = 0.40) of the gifted.