Differences in Achievement Motivation and Academic and Social Self-concept in Gifted Students of Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify groups of gifted university students that differ in their self-concept andachievement motivation. For this, 80 students who achieved scores of the 95th percentile or higher in the Raven'sProgressive Matrices test were selected. Two groups were identified in terms of their social self-concept and thecompetitiveness-oriented achievement motivation variables. The first group (Protected) gathered 51 (63.7%) giftedstudents who exhibited high levels of social self-concept and a low level of competitiveness-oriented achievementmotivation with respect to the second group (At-risk), which gathered 29 (36.3%) gifted students. It was concludedthat Protected students possess affective resources that strengthen their social and academic development, whereasAt-risk students' variables represent vulnerability factors.