Giftedness and High School Dropouts - Neag Center for Gifted ...

To examine gender differences, several chi-square analyses were conducted
between male and female gifted students who dropped out of school with respect to
father's educational expectations, mother's educational expectations, student's educational
aspirations, employment, and pregnancy/child-rearing. Regarding parents' educational
expectations, results indicated that most parents retained high educational expectations
for their children even after they dropped out of school. More than half the fathers
wanted their children to graduate from college or to continue higher education. No
significant gender differences were found in the father's educational expectations and
mother's educational expectations between gifted male and female students who dropped
out of school.
In addition to educational expectations, employment and pregnancy issues were
examined. Chi-square analyses were performed to investigate differences between gifted
male and female students who dropped out of school with respect to employment and
having children. A significant difference was found between gifted male and female
students who dropped out of school with respect to expecting or having children. More
gifted dropout females than males expected have children. However, there was no
significant difference between the two groups with respect to the number of hours they
worked for pay per week.
Research Question 3: Are there any differences between gifted students who
dropped out of school and who completed school with respect to the use of
marijuana or cocaine
To examine differences between gifted students who dropped out of school and
who completed school with respect to drug use, two t-tests were performed. The results
indicated that the effect on dropout status was significant with respect to the number of
times students used marijuana. Gifted students who dropped out of school used
marijuana more than gifted students who completed school. However, there was no
significant difference between the two groups with respect to the number of times they
used cocaine.
Research Question 4: To what extent and in what manner can variation in
the dropout rate of the gifted vary among students by personal and educational
factors (SES, race, gender, quality of school, father's highest level of education,
mother's highest level of education, student's educational aspirations,
pregnancy/child-rearing, and absenteeism)
A logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between
the criterion variable and the set of predictors. After data screening, direct logistic
regression analyses were performed with students' group membership (gifted students
who dropped out of school vs. gifted students who completed school) as a criterion
variable and a set of predictors. When examining the gifted students' decision to drop
out, a test of the final full model with nine predictors (SES, gender, race, students'
educational aspirations, father's highest education level, mother's highest education level,
pregnancy or having children, school quality, and absenteeism) against a constant-only
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