The effects of a program of structured group counseling on the self-concept and leadership skills of disadvantaged gifted elementary school students

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of participation in structured group counseling on the self-concept and leadership skills of disadvantaged gifted elementary school children.;Subjects were forty-eight elementary students from the Chesapeake Public School District in Chesapeake, Virginia. All students had been identified as potentially gifted and talented and were in attendance at a school designated as Title I by the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (ESEA).;Three instruments were used to carry out the study: The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), figural form, to measure creative thinking ability; the Piers-Harris Children\u27s Self-Concept Scale (PHCSCS) to measure change in self-concept; and the Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS), Part IV, Leadership Characteristics to measure change in leadership.;The research design used for the investigation was the Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. Analysis of Variance using an a priori contrast was employed to determine significance of treatment. A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to investigate the relationship between creative thinking ability, self-concept, and leadership skills. All hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of confidence.;The findings indicated that: (1) participation in a program of structured group counseling did not significantly increase self-concept or leadership test scores of disadvantaged gifted students and (2) among the program participants, high creative students did not have significantly higher mean gain scores in self-concept and leadership than low creative students. It was also found that (3) although there was no significant correlation between creative thinking test scores, self-concept test scores, and leadership test scores, there was significant correlation between self-concept test scores and leadership test scores.;Because research is limited, further study investigating the self-concept, leadership, and creative thinking ability of disadvantaged gifted students is needed in order to generate a broader base of knowledge and more finite instrumentation. In addition, group guidance and instructional activities focusing on the needs of the disadvantaged gifted should be implemented so as to provide opportunities for development of potential