Personality styles and behavioral repertoires in girls with high abilities: The issue of underrepresentation

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.655231
Keywords: Personality, Behavior, Gender , Gifted, Adolescents

Abstract

Several explanations have been given for underrepresentation of women within gifted population, including differences in personality traits, competencies and/or motivations, beliefs and gender stereotypes expectations, and gender-differentiated behaviors; which highlights the importance of including these factors in observation, evaluation and screening protocols for children and adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to define if there are significant differences in gender-related personality styles and behavior patterns in highly talented adolescents. Participants were 159 adolescents between 11-16 years of age, divided into two groups. (1) High abilities group: a group of 85 adolescents (40 boys, 45 girls); (2) Typical group: a group of 74 adolescents (49 boys, 25 girls). All participants were assessed using personality, resilience, perfectionism, rule-following, perseverative thinking and experimental avoidance tests. Results revealed that gifted girls had higher scores than boys in some personality styles and behavior patterns considered as “negative”. Specifically, girls score significantly higher in anxiety, dominance, aggressiveness, among others and lower than boys on emotional stability, self-concept, self-confidence and cognitive control. Finally, implications for assessing and supporting gifted population are discussed.

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Author Biographies

María del Mar Gómez Pérez, Universidad de Málaga

Mar Gómez-Pérez has a PhD in Psychology. She is lecturer at the University of Malaga; and she is attached to research group Hum129- experimental and applied behavioral. Her research is focused on traditional and dynamic assessment, and in application of cognitive (executive functions) and social (interpersonal skills) training programs in gifted children, autism spectrum disorder or children and adolescents associated with high family risk.

María Dolores Calero García, Universidad de Granada

Dolores Calero is Professor of Psychology at the Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment of University of Granada. Currently, she is attached to CIMCYC – Mind Brain and Behaviour Research Center (Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada). She has been working on issues related to learning potential, dynamic assessment and application of cognitive and social training programs for more than 30 years.

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Published
05-04-2026
How to Cite
Gómez Pérez, M. del M., García Martín, M. B., & Calero García, M. D. (2026). Personality styles and behavioral repertoires in girls with high abilities: The issue of underrepresentation. Anales De Psicología Annals of Psychology, 42(2), e17. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.655231