A Developmental Investigation of the Lives of Gifted Women

Abstract

Little research exists on intellectually gifted women in relation to their educational, personal, and career choices. This study explores the internal and external factors affecting educational and occupational choices made by gifted women at various times in their lives. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of intellectually gifted women representing the decades of the 1910s through the 1980s who attended a highly selective school for gifted females. Differences in personality and attitude factors were found across decades of graduation and between homemakers and career-oriented intellectually gifted women.