Social-emotional problems observed in gifted children

The goal of this paper is to increase awareness related to social-emotional problems experienced by gifted children lacking support systems suited to their needs and to describe solutions to minimize associated risks. The concept of “gifted” is defined and reasons for differences in social-emotional needs of gifted children together with how asynchronous development can be an important factor effecting their social-emotional states are explained. Different problems in this context are then considered, including loneliness, perfectionism, stress, depression and suicide. Finally, discussion and suggestions on social-emotional situations that need further research to ensure that gifted children can become emotionally healthy adults are presented.