An Investigation of the Relationship between Social Behavior Characteristics and Self-Perceptions of Gifted Children in Primary School

The aim of the present study is to determine the relationship between selfperceptions and social behaviors of gifted primary school children. The target population of the study consists of 874 third and fourth grade students who are from a district on the European side of Istanbul. These students are labeled as gifted according to the Primary Mental Abilities Test (7-11). 368 students (211 girls and 157 boys) participated in the research conducted in 16 primary schools. The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was used in the study to determine the self-perception levels while the School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS) was used to assess the social behaviors of the gifted children. According to the findings of the study, it was found that the self-perceptions of gifted children predicted the social competence and antisocial behaviors (p <.01). It was seen that as the children’s self-perception levels increased, their social competence increased (r = .186) and antisocial behaviors decreased (r = .160).