Parent-Child Interactions and Family Structure Features in Families with Intellectually Gifted Children

The article presents results of a research on parent-child 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. Seventy nine adolescents (studying at the 'Intellectual' school) and their mothers participated in the research.

1. Bogoyavlenskaya D. B. «Rabochaya koncepciya odarennosti»: prichiny i celi. Materialy Rossiiskoi konferencii «Odarennye deti: teoriya i praktika». M., 2001.
2. Landau E. Odarennost' trebuet muzhestva. Psihologicheskoe soprovozhdenie odarennogo rebenka. M., 2002.
3. Larionova L. I. Intellektual'naya odarennost' i kul'turno-istoricheskie faktory ee razvitiya. Avtoref. diss. ... kand. psihol. nauk. Irkutsk, 2002.
4. Odarennyi rebenok // Pod redakciei O. M. D'yachenko. M., 1997.
5. Psihologiya odarennosti detei i podrostkov. Uch. posobie. M., 1996.
6. Shumakova N. B. Vliyanie predstavlenii roditelei ob obuchenii na razvitie odarennosti u detei.Voprosy psihologii. 2004. № 2.
7. Sheblanova E. I. Psihologicheskaya diagnostika odarennosti shkol'nikov: problemy, metody, rezul'taty issledovanii i praktiki. M.Voronezh, 2004.
8. Yurkevich V. S. Rabota psihologa s odarennymi det'mi i podrostkami. Odarennyi rebenok. 2004. № 2.