This study examined the friendships between gifted and regular adolescents to determine if competition was related to the quality and stability of their friendship. Sullivan (1953) had predicted that competition harmed friendship, but this has not been tested empirically. Thirty-eight gifted and 38 regular friendship dyads from grades seven and eight were recruited from two high schools in Quebec and one in Ontario. Competition was defined in terms of competitive goal orientation. Students who competed in order to improve their performance on a task were rated as more task-oriented. Those who competed in order to show superiority over others were rated as more other-referenced. Competitive goal orientation differed for gifted and regular students. Classroom teachers, physical education teachers, and peers rated gifted students as being more task-oriented and regular students as being more other-referenced in their competitive styles across both scholastic and athletic domains. Being more task-oriented was related to having less negative friendship quality (i.e., fewer conflicts), more friendly competition, and for gifted students only, more friendship stability. Conversely, being more other-referenced was related to more negative friendship qualities and, for gifted students only, unstable friendships. Additionally, friends who reported positive friendship qualities at the end of the school year remained friends over the summer more so than friends who reported negative friendship qualities. However, during the school year, when friends saw each other regularly, the quality of their friendship was not related to whether or not they remained friends. Surprisingly, the friendships of regular adolescents had more positive qualities (companionship, help, security, closeness) than the friendships of gifted adolescents. No difference in friendship stability was found between the groups. Practical implications for teachers include avoiding forms
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85203 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Schapiro, Michelle |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002211400, proquestno: AAINR12942, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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