Mehr Glück als Verstand? Zum Wohlbefinden Hochbegabter

Within the scope of the longitudinal Marburg Giftedness Project two groups were examined: On the one hand, 101 gifted adults were compared to 91 averagely intelligent adults, and, on the other hand, high achievers (n = 128) were compared to average achievers (n = 104). At the time of the survey the participants were in their young adulthood. Subjective well-being was operationalised by general life satisfaction, satisfaction with life in specific domains, as well as positive and negative affectivity. Additionally, selected life goals were assessed and data which had been collected during the different phases of the Marburg Giftedness Project were used. Gifted and non-gifted respondents did not differ statistically significantly in any of the components of subjective well-being or life goals. Gifted underachievers reported a lower subjective well-being. There are some indications that different self-assessment variables, which contribute to the prediction of subjective well-being, exist for gifted and non-gifted adults. A statistically significant result was found for the high achievers regarding the satisfaction with Spouse/Partner in favour of the high achievers. Moreover, the high achievers stated a higher desirability of the goal Achievement. In conclusion, the results suggest that the life situation of gifted or high achieving (young) adults is by no means problematic: Neither intellectually gifted nor high achieving adults are especially happy or unhappy.