How Super is the Super Girl? Social and Emotional Characteristics of High Achieving Students

Abstract

High achieving girls (i.e., super girls) are under the spotlight in popular psychology and recent media reports. While these reports suggest girls are doing well by objective standards of achievement, little is actually known about high achieving girls' social and emotional development. Understanding psychological aspects of high achievers is critical in determining whether girls pay a price along the road to success. In what follows, the literature on risk, including pressure/stress, coping, and problem behaviors will be reviewed. Salient developmental issues such as self-evaluation and intimacy will also be explored. The literature on these topics will be evaluated first among typical adolescents and then among high achievers. Next, a study that assessed the socioemotional functioning of high achieving girls and boys is described. Results indicated that high academic achievement for both boys and girls was related to higher academic self-concept, lower external and other problem behaviors, lower behavioral misconduct, lower romantic appeal, higher personal standards, and less positive thinking as a coping technique. However, participants' gender played a significant role. Girls revealed lower self-competence, more stress, and greater eating problems, regardless of achievement. Across achievement levels, boys had lower levels of intimacy as compared to girls. In one instance, achievement interacted with gender: low academic achievement was related to higher ratings of behavioral misconduct for boys only. Implications are discussed as they relate to both typical and high achieving students and the contexts in which they live.