Parent Child Interactions and Family Structure Features

The article presents results of a research on parentchild interactions, structural and functional characteristics of families with intellectually gifted adolescents. The results obtained in the research show that these characteristics vary significantly from those of families with normally developing children. Four groups of gifted children were specified: 'gifted' children with/without neurotic signs, 'exceptionally gifted' children with/without asynchrony. Family situations characteristic of each group are described as well; it helps to understand the psychological sense and developmental paths of each four types of child giftedness. Seventynine adolescents (studying at the 'Intellectual' school) and their mothers participated in the research.